No shit, Sherlock
The NSA is asking Nigerians to quit ransom payments
Good morning, Big Brains. It rained in my area, and I finally feel like I’ve one-upped this heat, even if it’s temporary.
Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
No shit, genius
The Nigeria police are being silly again
The Big Deal
No shit, Sherlock
The topics in this edition of the newsletter are so annoying so we’ll keep our ting brief. We don’t know who is sillier between Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Nigeria Police but we’ll look at the NSA first.
So, on Tuesday, April 8, Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s NSA, pleaded with Nigerians to stop making ransom payments to kidnappers and bandits because, shocker— it makes the jobs of security agencies harder. The best way to handle this, according to him, is to leave it to Nigeria’s armed forces and security forces, who have and will continue to rescue kidnap victims without paying a dime.
Ribadu said this as he received kidnap victims rescued by the military in the course of their operations in the Zangon Kataf area of Southern Kaduna.
As you may have guessed, Ribadu did not meet with these people Kabuna in Abuja, specifically the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. The victims, 35 men and 29 women and children were in captivity for over a month before regaining their freedom.
Why is this a big deal?
First of all, anyone with half a brain knows that making ransom payments emboldens kidnappers, so the NSA is not saying anything that Nigerians don’t know or haven’t heard before.
This is also not the first time Nigerian authorities have said this either. In fact, in 2022, the Nigerian Senate went as far as passing a bill criminalising both kidnapping and ransom payments. The bill, which is an amendment of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013, prescribes a 15-year jail term for anyone caught paying ransom to kidnappers, life imprisonment for the kidnappers themselves, and a death sentence if the kidnapping leads to loss of life.
Nigerian authorities might say this has helped make the situation better, but we won't be agreeing with them on that because, in 2024, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report that called B.S on the claims. According to the report, Nigerians made a total of ₦2.23 trillion in ransom payments between May 2023 and April 2024. If this report did anything, it showed that abductions did not stop, and Nigerians did not stop paying ransoms either.
Way before this report was released and before ransom payment was criminalised, independent security experts frowned at the government’s move, calling it ineffective and saying what we all know— it is unnatural to ask people to look the other way while their loved ones face threats of death at the hands of terrorists and kidnappers.
For over a decade, Nigeria has suffered from different security threats and in the more recent past, kidnapping for ransom has stood out as one of the most rampant ones. From the abduction of the Kankara school boys, the Greenfield students, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s late father, and so many other high-profile cases, Nigerians have continued to suffer the consequences of Nigeria’s insecurity.
It is obvious to everyone (except the Nigerian government, apparently) that the solution to this problem is not in advising families against ransom payments, neither is it in trying to criminalise it; the solution, like experts have continued to tell them, is to directly address the insecurity and its causes rather than discouraging self-help. Do your jobs, people!
The Nigerian Police are being silly again
One thing the Nigerian Police would always do is be on the wrong side of things, and they’ve done it again. On Tuesday, April 8, Police in Rivers State targeted and assaulted journalists who were covering a protest in the state by the Take It Back Movement against Cybercrime Act and the State Of Emergency rule in the state. Channels Television reports that their reporter, Charles Opurum, was “tear-gassed, arrested, and brutally beaten up by a policeman before being bundled into a waiting van” before he was later released after recognition. An AIT cameraman who was also assaulted had his camera seized and footage of the commotion forcefully deleted by the Police before he and the Channels TV reporter were released.
Protesters weren’t spared from the madness either. At first, they had gathered at Isaac Boro Park, but the Police confronted them, saying they had no permission to be there and recommended they take their protest to the Federal Secretariat. While the protesters marched towards the Secretariat as they were told, the Police, following them closely, fired teargas at them.
We’re not sure if we should drag only the Nigerian Police at this point or drag the government along with them because the intolerance they show towards citizens is a shared thing, and it’s as disgusting as it is dangerous. What’s more ironic is that they do this while Nigerians protest against similar things.
If the Nigerian Police (and the government) are not ashamed, we are ashamed on their behalf because this has gotten out of hand. From teargassing peaceful protesters to tracking and arresting social media users for insults, Nigerian authorities are getting way too comfortable with human rights abuses, and citizens have to act fast. Wondering how you can do that? Start by consistently talking about it (and tagging relevant authorities) on social media for starters.
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