Abia State commercialised kidnappings in Nigeria – Senator Akpabio

Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday at the Senate plenary gave a highlight into how Abia State pioneered the commercialization of kidnappings in Nigeria.

He stated this while contributing to the debate on Joint Committee Report on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence in Abuja.
According to the former Governor, Kidnapping of expatriates in the Niger Delta in those days were purposely to protest for harm done to the environment by multinational oil companies and government’s lack of political will to address the trend, but in misplacement of purposes, the trend began to spread to other places.

Akpabio explained that in Abia State when former governor, Theodore Orji held sway, kidnappers would build a form of bungalow and dug gallows underneath where they kept victims until ransom was paid.

“In Abia state then, they will build a bungalow with gallows underneath, and when someone was kidnapped, they will keep the victim there until ransom was paid even with Police guarding the compound,”Akpabio emphasized.

While calling for capital punishments for the perpetrators, he lamented the current three year maximum imprisonment was so inadequate that can never deter them.

“Currently, the maximum penalty is three years imprisonment for kidnappers, and this cannot deter them while I want to call for stringent penalty to punish them,” Akpabio maintained.