Reasoning out the girl's kidnap

Irrational vengefulness

I stopped over at the African Shop on my way home this evening when I ran into another patron who had a view of the 3-year old girl's kidnapping in Port Harcourt, Nigeria I could not countenance.

As far as I am concerned, there is nothing that can justify the kidnapping of a child no matter how aggrieved you might be.

His view was that there might be mitigating factors that we do not know of that would have lead to the girl's kidnapping and what we all should be wary of, is situations where we cause offence to others leading the offended to react or seek revenge in an extremely irrational way.

He went on to say that if he was one of the people apprehended at the Grand Café and summarily deported as some were; any Caucasian he meets back in Nigeria would definitely bear the wrath of the actions in Amsterdam to their harm. That is definitely irrational.

I then said, if ever this kidnapping issue gets resolved in some amicable way, would the kidnappers be able to present their case in court to justify the kidnapping of the girl? I doubt it.

Prevent through restraint

But our man was more concerned with the mantra - "prevention is better than the cure" or later "to obey is better than sacrifice" - now what is preventable is probably preventable, but how do you prevent a situation where a deal, a business, an agreement or even indifference leads to your child being kidnapped violently at gunpoint?

I was exasperated and perplexed; I want to believe I live in a better world than one that accommodates that kind of view.

For instance, the same analogy could be extended to say, after I was beaten up by three drunken Moroccan guys, I get a gun and shoot any Moroccan in sight - No; the human race has really come a long way from that kind of unpersuadable and intemperate attitude.

Accepting the unacceptable

Unfortunately, there are some who would welcome that view as trying to see beyond the prevailing circumstances to understand the motivation for such actions - I see this in one of two shades, black or white.

Nothing and nothing ever can justify the kidnapping of a 3-year old at gun point - not in a jungle where cannibals and savages thrive, not in highly civilized societies and not in the Niger Delta region where criminals rule as laws unto themselves answerable to no formal authority.

We parted ways agreeing to disagree - I cannot convince myself more of the fact that this thinking must not be tolerated and for all the prevention and sacrifice; if you have been so aggrieved to the point of uncontrollable anger and seething for pay back, revenge and having the biggest last laugh - the Good Book says - Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

What you plan to do would probably be criminal and the law would not be sympathetic to the wrongs you feel you have suffered. How did I get embroiled in such a conversation?

Child in Niger Delta Kidnapping and Death Threat

Worsening Niger Delta Region

Whilst I have never given voice to the happenings in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria, the most recent developments would give anyone a great deal of concern.

It has transpired that a group of lawless brigands with no semblance of humanity or a conscience have grabbed a 3-year old mixed race girl from the comfort of being driven to school in Port Harcourt and threatened to kill her. This is pure evil.

I cannot understand what these people are trying to achieve, it is a given that British citizens have been advised to leave the Delta area because of seriously deteriorating security situation which has had the federal government without clue, initiative or inspiration, they have been caught flat-footed every time as Niger Delta criminals pretending to be activists have created a state within a state fomenting unrest.

These events are hardly local, they raise hackles internationally as global oil markets wobble and Nigeria makes the news again for all reasons but commendable ones.

Mike Hill, her father, is essentially a local who is both an oil worker and he runs a bar frequented by expatriates in Port Harcourt, her mother Oluchi is literally inconsolable, the kidnappers have asked the father to take her place.

Big man wades in

As usual, we are told that resources are being mobilised to search for the girl and rescue her from her captors, but is shows an utter embarrassment of duties and responsibilities if the Inspector General of Police has to fly out to Port Harcourt to coordinate the search.

Now, rescuing this child of utmost importance and the best resources we can get which should be devolved around the country must be applied to this task.

If I am now hearing that there is no District Superintendent, State Police Commissioner, Regional Commissioner or Assistant Inspector General of Police (IG) to coordinate this but the big cheese himself, we do have a sorry state of law enforcement in Nigeria - though an opportunity for the IG to ingratiate himself with foreigners and have the media spotlight.

Beyond this, one is worried about the fact that the girl might be taken into some nightmarish enclave in an unfamiliar setting whilst these rotten criminals exact their demands for a ransom or some other ameliorating deal - it is important that they do not bungle this rescue operation.

Get the girl then finish the men

The most important task is to get the girl back to her family safe and sound, after that, those men should be hunted down and exterminated like vermin - there is no cause in this world that can warrant the kidnapping on a child to gain some bargaining advantage.

These men do not deserve to walk the face of this earth one extra second, it is utterly contemptible and evil that anyone and even a Nigerian can think up such a scheme.

Maybe, it is necessary to have the Oga police in there coordinating things, but the job would only have been done with the speedy rescue of the girl and the apprehending of all the culprits to see justice and have the full wrath of the law visited upon them.

For now, despite all the real and palpable suffering in the Niger Delta regions, their cause is completely lost if any group of criminals can do this in their name, they must repudiate this activity and turn up these criminals with the utmost alacrity.