By Ishola Adeleke, YeyeNews.com, Noember 4, 2021
Bandits operating in Katsina and Zamfara States have increased ransom fees for kidnapped victims claiming that the security measures put in place by the State governments to check banditry has made it more expensive to kidnap and negotiate. A source who was recently released from the kidnappers den told YeyeNews.com that the bandits said the ransom amount was increased to compensate for the additional difficulty of having to walk long distances to border towns in order to call our relatives.
“The bandits said that they factored the cost of the effort to walk to areas with telecom network coverage and the additional expenses of using networks of neighboring countries. According to them, after profiling, the ransom for my release would have been N1.2m but the additional costs increased it to N1.7m. They refused all our pleas for them to reduce the amount”, the source narrated.
A government official in Katsina State expressed his believe that these difficulties in negotiating ransom will hasten the end of banditry and kidnappings in the State. Speaking with YeyeNews.com reporter the official insist that the shutting down of telecoms services, markets and curtailing the sale of petrol in the areas affected by banditry is having a positive effect on security in the State.
“The bandits are finding it more difficult to operate in the area. Though they are still kidnapping people but the cost of doing that has increased. So many people can no longer afford the high ransoms. The more people that are unable to pay the ransom the less attractive will the activity become. So eventually these bandits will either embrace legitimate businesses like farming and cattle rearing or they will take their operations to other States”.
But a security expert has faulted the reasoning of the government calling it insensitive to the plight of the people. “It is folly to believe that bandits will embrace farming overnight because the government has shut down telcos or close down petrol stations. It is the poor villagers that will bear most of the brunt of these harsh measures. This is evident in the continuous operations of these criminals. I don’t understand how the government cannot see this. You don’t stop buying foodstuff in your house because rats are nibbling at them. The best approach is to decimate the rats. But the government don’t seem interested in that”.
