Falae And A Nation In The Grip Of Kidnappers

EVEN now that some of the culprits have been arrested and even charged to court for it, the kidnap of Chief Samuel Oluyemi Falae, elder statesman and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation remains a most embarrassing advertisement of the level of insecurity in the country. With the proverbial gold of the likes of Falae rusting, what fate could befall the iron of the ordinary Nigerian is only better imagined.

His abduction the other day from his farm in Akure, Ondo State by gun-wielding hoodlums also clearly shows a further decline to the lowest level imaginable of an already devalued values system in the country. His captors are simply despicable characters and should be so treated upon conviction. Given Falae’s status as a man who has served the country meritoriously in many capacities at the highest level and is still making himself relevant to the society through farming, the kidnappers debased age, trampled on order, rubbished decency, cheapened Nigerianness and assaulted humanity.

It is so sad that life in Nigeria has, over time, been reduced to a short, nasty and brutish one by criminal elements who have taken advantage of the poverty of leadership, which gave rise to lapses in security compounded by an intelligence community hardly living up to expectations. Therefore, it is high time the country regained lost chances as it seeks to build on the current momentum towards change.

Of course, this occasion is another clarion call on security agencies to work harder at reasonably curtailing criminal activities and the general insecurity pervading the land. Such an atmosphere is necessary for citizens to live peaceably and without fear of having rights freely trampled upon by gangs of marauding bandits.

Chief Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, a former Finance Minister, then presidential candidate (of the Alliance for Democracy in 1999), now a frontline leader of the Yoruba race had been whisked away by his abductors from his farm in Akure. By his accounts, he was strategically relocated many times to evade detection besides his being forced to trek about 25 kilometres across farmlands into Owo territory in a dehumanising condition. Finally, he regained freedom after the attackers made sure they collected ransom organised by his family and friends. Luckily, part of that money is being recovered from the arrested abductors.

The embittered 77-year-old victim’s experience is not any different from other hundreds of kidnappings recorded in the recent past. In some cases, families have even lost the victims to their captors either before or after paying the ransom with their bodies wickedly dumped in the bush for search parties to locate. This, of course, raises the question on why bestiality is rising to a high level such as is currently witnessed in the country.

Chief Falae’s abduction is an insult not only to his person, but to all that is good in the society. Indeed, the kidnapping of anybody is an assault on humanity’s collective decency. In lamenting security lapses, many ethnic leaders are now threatening that they might be forced to defend themselves if the Federal Government failed to compel provision of adequate security. While it may be said that this is not necessary, it is symptomatic of what indecency and desperation in a flawed federal system can engender. With similar threats from the South West, the Niger Delta and across the Niger to the east, this is worrisome, more so at a time when the nation’s military and other security agencies are battling to curb the Boko Haram insurgency in the north.

The latest troubles also came against the backdrop of Chief Falae’s reaffirmation of the police’s earlier claim that certain herdsmen he had been having running battles with over grazing on his farmlands were prime suspects in the kidnap saga. The immediate confessions of the arrested men have confirmed this and it is high time a solution was found to the menace of herdsmen as criminals. His ordeal should also question the police’s alleged failure to work on reports of frequent skirmishes between the herdsmen and farmers, especially in South West of Nigeria. Or, have there been no formal complaints by the victims?

In all his public conduct, Falae had personified peace. So it is bewildering that anybody or a group of mindless fellows would subject the septuagenarian or any human being for that matter to the kind of violence he experienced.

The issue certainly is beyond government. Family values have undoubtedly broken down almost beyond redemption. On display is, for instance, a public show of material wealth by many parents who do not have any visible means of income or people who are flaunting wealth beyond determined incomes. They are suspiciously rich and are daily being celebrated by the society that ought to question the means of their wealth acquisition. What is being promoted in Nigeria today, therefore, is a material world where good character is openly debased and this is the breeding ground for the on-going banditry in high and low places, all in an attempt to acquire wealth.

Clearly, the issue of a properly defined federal structure is thrown up again. There is no running away from effecting community policing as a short-term measure, towards the institution of state policing in a truly federal structure in the long-term because the country is under-policed. Needed too is a restructured education system that is values-driven. Otherwise, Nigeria is headed for disaster. A moral challenge is hanging over Nigeria and the family as well as the community are the perfect units from which change should begin on the road to total redemption.