Edo Train Station Attack: Beyond Hoping Against A Reoccurrence, Vigilantes And Amotekun Must Synergize To Stamp It Out
The Oasis Reporters
January 9, 2023
Deputy Gov visits station, Police arrests one suspect
… one victim regains freedom
…security agencies, vigilante, local hunters comb bushes
The announcement by the Edo State Commissioner for Communications and Orientation, Hon. Chris Nehikhare that security operatives have arrested one of the suspected kidnappers involved in the kidnapping of 32 passengers at the Igueben train station, in Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State is heartwarming.
This goes to show that kidnappers are not spirits. They are human beings and they can be found, arrested and dealt with according to the laws of the land.
Besides, the merchants of this ugly business that was mainly centred in the north is being brought to the South, and this is unacceptable.
The commissioner disclosed this during a press briefing in Benin City, adding that one out of the 32 persons who were attacked at the train station has escaped from the kidnappers.
He said: “After 32 persons were kidnapped, the Police, vigilante, and local hunters swung into action, combing the bushes around the vicinity. One of the kidnapped victims was able to escape.”
Nehikhare noted, “The Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has visited the scene of the attack for on-the-spot assessment and was told that one of the suspects was arrested and he has been helping the police with investigation to arrest other fleeing members of the kidnapping gang.
“We congratulate the Police and other security agencies for their swiftness in attending to the security brief. We appreciate the local hunters and members of the Edo State Security Network as their collaboration assisted in this operation. This synergy led to the success recorded in a very short time.”
“We hope this is the last time we will have such an attack on government infrastructure, especially train stations here in Edo State. Our security network was swift to react to the incident and we condole the families of victims. We will give necessary support to the security agencies, vigilantes and local hunters who are on the trail of these kidnappers,” he added.
It is pertinent for all branches of local security networks like Amotekun in Ondo State and other South West states that are contiguous to Edo State be immediately activated to begin combing their bushes line by line, area by area in a well coordinated fashion such that the pressure that would be unleashed on the kidnappers would make them abandon the nefarious business and allow Nigerians live in peace and security.
Kidnapping that has become a lucrative business for certain tribes in the north must be brought to an end.
The British colonial rulers in Nigeria did their utmost best to stamp it out because it was the main avenue used by those involved in the ugly slave trade that abolitionists gloriously brought to an end over two hundred years ago.
It is obvious that the slave merchant traders of those early days have not found other peaceful vocations, and this is what they have metamorphosed into kidnapping and banditry, this time to extort money from citizens since the end of slave trade.
The ugly business must be brought to an end. Their collaborators in political authority and the security agencies should be shunted aside for the freedom of the generality of Nigerians who wish to live in peace.
