FG to roll out new anti-kidnapping measures

IGP Idris

•Suspects to be treated, prosecuted as terrorists, says IGP

A fresh initiative by the Federal Government to curb the growing menace of kidnapping across the country is on the way.

The initiative is the result of joint efforts by the security agencies to check what is fast turning into one of the most lucrative criminal activities in the nation’s history.

Government, according to an investigation by The Nation, had tasked the relevant security agencies to come up with ideas on how best to tackle the problem before it gets worse than it is now.

The agencies have consequently identified some measures through which kidnapping and related crimes can be made unattractive throughout the nooks and crannies of the country.

The new measures may include the introduction of the capital punishment for those found guilty of kidnapping.

Lagos, Ogun and Delta States have already introduced the capital punishment for kidnapping.

Police Inspector General Ibrahim Idris confirmed in Abuja that the federal government is working on a blue print to address the issue.

Besides, the Police are putting forward a plan to recreate two of its elite units at the state and zonal commands to deal with kidnapping.

These are the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) and Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU) both of which are currently based at the force headquarters, Abuja.

The police boss said his office and that of the Attorney-General of the Federation are collaborating on effective prosecution of kidnapping cases nationwide.

Idris who spoke  in an interview in Abuja said that for a start, suspected  kidnappers  will henceforth be prosecuted under the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act (TPA) 2011 and Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

He explained that the two laws otherwise known as TPA 2011 (as amended) can be very effective deterrent against such grave criminal acts as they specify penalties that may include long jail term,  life sentence and death.

He said: “We have seen the need for the police and the Attorney-General’s office to work together more, especially in the area of prosecution of terrorists as more has been heard about arrests than convictions.

“After arrest, we want personnel from the two sides to ensure that suspects are effectively prosecuted.

“Now, we want to be prosecuting them under the Terrorism Act because kidnapping falls under the Act; we are trying to harmonise everything with the Attorney-General’s office to make for very effective prosecution to the last point.

“Thus far, people are just hearing of arrests but they have not been hearing of people being sentenced to 20, 30 years in prison or even, to death.”

Serious criminal acts, according to him, must be confronted with serious deterrents.

Emphasising deep concerns over the near daily occurrence of kidnapping and other criminal acts in spite of police’ consistent efforts to curb them, the Inspector-General stressed that the police has several challenges but solicited active support from all segments of the society to improve security for all.

His words: “We are trying to enlist the support of all segments of society to tackle the challenge of kidnapping; we need to sensitise members of the public on the need to be security-conscious and for all of us to work together with unity of purpose because when you see some of the ordinary looking boys involved in kidnapping activities, you will find it difficult to believe.

“Eventually, we always get most of them as you can see with the Turkish College, the kidnapped Lagos landlords and other cases. In those cases, we gathered information and picked suspects long afterwards when they least expected.

“To a great extent, we are succeeding despite of challenges including inadequate funding and personnel.

“Kidnapping has become a big problem for the entire society; that is why we are bringing together religious leaders, traditional rulers and all members of the society to tackle the menace.

“Within the limited resources that the police have and the competencies of our officers, we are trying and we are recording success.”

Credible police sources confirmed to The Nation that planned recreation of the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) and Anti Kidnapping Unit (AKU) at the state and zonal commands will go a long way in checking kidnapping.

“Currently, we only have these vital units in Abuja and each time there is a serious kidnap case to crack, the Inspector General will have to order these special forces, to move to the affected areas,” sources said.

“But if the new idea is accepted as a good initiative, we may soon see the creation of these units in the states. That way, the force will react faster to all cases of kidnap, both high and low profile, as each command will have all it takes to crack the crimes in good time.”

The Inspector General in a previous interview had said the police would mount special tracking devices in Lagos and Port-Harcourt to check kidnapping and other crimes.

“The device we will mount in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, will cater for the South-South and South East zones, while the one deployed to Lagos would focus on the west,” he said.

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Emir of Katsina’s mourns the death of his mother

Hajiya Aminatu Mai Babban Daki, the mother of the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumin Kabir Usman, has passed away.

The news of her death was confirmed by the Secretary of Katsina Emirate Council and Sallama Katsina, Bello Mammam Ifo.

She died Saturday evening around 4.30 pm in Katsina after a protracted illness.

The late Aminatu will be buried tomorrow according to Islamic rites, after funeral prayers at the Emir Palace by 9am.

She is survived by nine children.

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DOWNLOAD: Korede Bello - Do Like That (Remix) ft Kelly Rowland MP3 ♫

Title:

Download Korede Bello - Do Like That (Remix) ft Kelly Rowland Mp3

Artiste:

Korede Bello

Year:

2017

Uploaded By:

Guruboi, Feb 22 (2017-02-22)

Review:

Download Korede Bello - Do Like That (Remix) ft Kelly Rowland Mp3

(Korede, Bello, Korede Bello, Do, Like, Do Like That, (Remix), ft, Kelly, Rowland, ) SMD music s£nsat!on has just recorded his first major international collaboration.

The singer has enlisted the assistance of American superstar – Kelly Rowland for the remix of Do Like That.

Fast Download 6.62MB || Slow Download

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Nigerians should read this and know the present sitaution ofthe President

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s minders have gone to extraordinary lengths to hide his illness, or its severity, from the public. Nothing will dissuade them from their set goals. It was even difficult to get them to agree he was ill, though that fact was in many ways obvious to the country during the presidential campaigns. But when the matter could no longer be ignored, his minders began engaging in high obfuscation, suggesting in one instance that the order of precedence between vacationing and routine medical tests was settled in his favour, and in another instance that their interpretation of vacationing must be respected despite the president being holed up in one dreary location in London. Often, this kind of complication occurs when presidential aides drag red herring before an inquisitive public, the same electorate that banished their suspicions about the president’s health to vote for him enthusiastically.

President Buhari’s minders are, however, divided into two: his official spokesmen who regurgitate what they are told about the president’s condition; and a second, closer group which has the real story but redacts it for public consumption. The social media has spent the better part of three weeks trying to determine the dissonance between what the group closer to the president has and what the public is fed by the official spokespersons. The wary and puzzled public and their irreverent social media needn’t worry. There is nothing they can do or say, nor any speculation they can make or rumour they can disseminate, that will sway the president’s close handlers. Perhaps the handlers will eventually open up to the electorate and tell them things; perhaps they will give a fair briefing of what is ailing the president and whether he can still continue in the job. Perhaps.

Until they do so, however, the public will continue to amuse themselves with the droppings from the social media and the redacted and possibly contorted information from those a little removed from the president. At the moment, the president’s handlers are not disconcerted by the eerie replay of the cat and mouse game that manifested during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s losing battle with extreme illness. But to douse rumours, they have orchestrated visits to the president, with each visitor either enjoying photo opportunities with the supposedly ailing president or regaling the sceptical public with superlative descriptions of the president’s rebound. He had remained witty and humorous, said one visitor. Another described him as fit as a fiddle, after just one brief visit. And yet another suggested the president would soon return, perhaps at the following weekend. But barely days after these superlatives, the president had to extend his stay, this time indefinitely, now more openly for medical reasons than for vacation purposes.

That extension made nonsense of the president’s spokesmen’s waffling over whether their principal travelled for medical vacation or some other reasons qualified by semantic underpinnings. It is also pointless to speculate about the president’s ailment or when he will return to his desk. His health circumstances cannot be hidden for long. And whether they like to hear it or not, the president’s handlers have not managed the matter with the maturity and dexterity the country expected of them, especially given the sad reminder of ex-president Yar’Adua’s ordeal. More, given what the president has gone through in the past few weeks, it will be overly optimistic to expect him to return ‘as fit as a fiddle’, or with renewed and boundless energy and optimism. His age gives little hope for the display of finesse and boisterousness, as he himself confessed during a visit to South Africa in June 2015, not to talk of full recovery. If he needs an extended time to rest, not for play or vacation as previously sold to the country, he will return a little lethargic, and probably with the unremitting ennui that often characterises the leadership of ageing statesmen.

Nigerians and the president’s handlers, not to talk of the president himself, misinterpret the circumstances of his problematic health. During the campaigns, he doubtless struggled with some pains, and the public saw it; but once in office, that struggle become epical, despite the best efforts of his aides to disguise that fact. But what really ails the president is not his failing health, which many people, including this columnist, can live with, but his failing ideas. The president receives the sympathies of the public and this writer’s, but it is hard to similarly sympathise with both his ideas, assuming they exist and are coherent, and his style, which is sometimes dangerously off-putting, excessive and impracticable. It must be reiterated once again that the problem is not the president’s health, despite the inconveniences they bring; the problem is that before and after he assumed office, President Buhari neither espoused great ideas capable of impacting the economy, politics and society, nor seemed to welcome one. His health challenges will not stop the public from criticising his government or his policies, especially when those ideas don’t exist or when they miscarry. Nor should he sulk or indulge in self-pity over whether anyone prays for him or not. He is president, with all its grandness and nobility, not a baby in nursery.

If his stay in England will not end in days, the president should be advised to speak with his countrymen through teleconferencing, and possibly take two or three questions from various parts of Nigeria. Selecting one praying crowd or the other to speak to does not do his image any good. Let him speak to all; surely this is not a difficult thing. His handlers must also surely remember that former United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt won the governorship of New York in 1929 despite nursing the crippling effects of poliomyelitis or Guillian-Barre syndrome since 1921. And despite his persistent debilitation, which was to dog him for the rest of his life, he also went on to win the presidency in 1932, indeed for a record four times until his death in 1945. What sustained him was clearly not his health burden but the force, genuineness and impact of his impressive and farsighted ideas.

President Buhari’s minders will also remember from their history lessons that despite having a mild stroke in 1949, Winston Churchill returned to office as prime minister again in 1951. In fact, his leadership was sometimes so incapacitated that King George VI considered asking him to relinquish office to his deputy, Anthony Eden, had the latter not also been plagued by illness. Then in 1953, Sir Winston had another sever stroke while still in office and should have handed over power to Mr Eden had the deputy not had a botched operation on his gall bladder. Yet the considerably hobbled Mr Eden eventually succeeded Sir Winston in 1955, but resigned in 1957 due more to the Suez Canal fiasco than his own unending health challenges. President Buhari’s men should not give the impression that the country is obsessed with the president’s health challenges or that Nigerians are divided into two groups of those sympathetic to him and those cruelly insensitive. Health challenges often cause distortions in the personalities of sufferers. Given some of his actions, particularly in the matter of the rule of law, it is not excessive to find out whether the president’s afflictions have nudged him to bilious temper against his foes or charmed him into unaccustomed geniality and tenderness.

On the great and exigent issues of the day, it is important to locate where President Buhari stands. These issues range from political restructuring, economic revival and growth, societal cohesion, the rule of law and justice delivery, and ethnic and religious freedoms. So far, he has dealt with the matter of corruption symptomatically, recorded a salutary but still desultory victory over Boko Haram, and has managed in the process to retain the admiration of a majority of Nigerians far beyond his accomplishments deserve. The implication is that he has not exhausted his goodwill. Well, then, let him not overreach himself; let him come clean on his health status, and let him recognise, if it is still possible for him, that he will neither be judged nor excused by how healthy or unhealthy he was. History has bigger and better criteria to assess his presidency. From all indications, it is hard to see that history extending its munificence to him as far into the future as grovelling aides imagine and say.

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