Kidnappings in Kwara State and the Ethnic Profiling of Victims

The biggest threat to survival today in Nigeria is insecurity. It is ahead of poverty, inflation, economic hardship, unemployment, sickness, and whatnot. This is not to say the aforementioned threats to survival are not threatening enough. It is to emphasize that the menace of insecurity has become a real nightmare and trumps all other threats to survival.

Kidnapped victims are not only unarmed civilians, our armed men are as vulnerable. When those who are armed to protect the armless become everyday victims of marauding kidnappers and killers, the wise advice would be to always say the last prayer repeatedly at all times of the day. Just as no one knows who the next victim will be, anyone can be the next victim. 

The most protected today in Nigeria who are unlikely to be victims of insecurity are the agents of death themselves: kidnappers, bandits, and their enablers who make a huge fortune from this sanguinary, blood-demanding enterprise. Immune from victimhood are also perhaps those elected rulers—who should act but refuse to act—and their close family members.

Of recent, Kwara State (like Katsina, Zamfara, Borno etc.) has become a textbook case of insecurity in Nigeria. Though there are alleged attempts to muffle journalists from reporting cases of kidnappings and insecurity generally in the State, the question, however, is: how long would an ostrich deceive onlookers into thinking it has buried itself by burying its head, especially when its body is being filmed? Attempts to hide cases of kidnappings by those elected to protect us is a display of cowardice and insensitiveness. 

I wrote about the rising cases of kidnappings that are not reported as breaking news anymore in Kwara State two weeks ago due to the frequency of occurrences. In a column titled “Nigerian Journalists: The Endangered Species,” I bemoaned the danger inherent in any attempt by rulers to prevent journalists from doing their job, following the allegation by Sahara Reporter that the Emir of Lafiagi threatened Journalists to steer clear of reporting insecurity cases in his domain. One body named “Concerned Youths in Lafiagi Emirates”  wrote a rebuttal against Sahara Reporter’s claim. But this does not change the reality on ground. The two local governments—Edu, which headquarter is Lafiagi, and Patigi—are particularly becoming epicenter of kidnappings in the North of Kwara. News of kidnappings always finds its way to the media despite the consistent effort to suppress such reports. Also, protesters are always prevented to air their grievances in an attempt to water down the true extent of the insecurity situation.

Elected and traditional rulers in Kwara should stop playing politics with insecurity in the State. Kwara is not safe. Just last week, The National Youth Service Corps NYSC relocated its orientation camp from Yikpata, Edu Local Government Area in Kwara North, to the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, due to rising insecurity. While this is a right step to take to protect serving corps members, indigenes and residents of the state also deserve protection. 

However, it is unfortunate that when the state continues to bleed and the Kwarans directionlessly run for their lives (for, nowhere to actually run to), someone is busy counting the number of the Kidnapped with focus on identifying their ethnicity in what could be qualified as ethnic profiling. That is Hadji AbdulRasheed Yusuf, the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government in Kwara South. Ifelodun is the most prominent local government in Kwara South in terms of landmass and population. It is bigger than all other six local governments combined together in Kwara South.

Featuring on the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel “Newskeg” programme held at the council secretariat in Ilorin, as reported by Daily Trust, Yusuf disclosed that more than 98 per cent of those kidnapped in the Southern part of the state are Fulani, and not Yorubas as generally assumed. This is not how to be emotionally unintelligent. In other words, the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government displays a serious deficiency of emotional intelligence. Is he really thinking about how his people would think about him for making that statement?

What exactly is he insinuating? Why not just lament insecurity and move on since he cannot solve the problem? Saying that 98 per cent of kidnapped victims in Kwara South are Fulani is utterly irresponsible and contrary to logic and common sense. It is like saying 98 per cent of kidnapped victims in Katsina State are Yoruba or 98 per cent of kidnapped victims in Zamfara State are Igbo. Where is the sense in this?

Okay, let’s assume he is correct in that thoughtless assertion. What exactly does he mean? Are the Fulani need not be protected and thus deserve to be Kidnapped? It is like saying, “the Yoruba should remain calm and not be bothered about insecurity since it does not affect them. After all, the absolute majority of kidnapped victims are Fulani. So, the Yoruba should be calm.” If the kidnapped victims are Fulani, who are the kidnappers? Yusuf should be generous to tell his audience the ethnic identity of the kidnappers that operate in Kwara South. His utterance is an insult on the entire people of Kwara South. Every soul is important and every Nigerian deserves protection irrespective of their ethnicity.

To add salt to injury, Yusuf lamented that virtually everyone in Ifelodun Local Government has become an informant for bandits, making it difficult to know who to trust. This is an indictment of the entire people of Kwara South with few exemptions. Perhaps he does not know the implication of his utterance. 

He then advised all stakeholders in the state not to politicize the issue of insecurity but join hands in prayer for lasting peace and harmony. Yusuf should be commended for this, but why is he needlessly ethnicizing the issue of insecurity? As it is wrong to politicize insecurity issue so is it catastrophic to ethnicize it. Ethnic profiling of victims should stop. Government should rather place itself on top of the issue and brainstorm with key stakeholders on how to bring a lasting peace to the entire state. 

The federal government should also give insecurity the serious attention it deserves. Like the Presidency is pained that Omoyele Sowore called the President a criminal and it is thus taking every step to whitewash the President, it should be more pained that Nigerians now sleep with two eyes open. The federal government should take every necessary step to put an end the large-scale insecurity that is consuming Nigerians on daily basis. Provision of security for all should be given precedence over the image of the President. While I earnestly pray that all victims in chains should gain their freedom, may we not be victims.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen 

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com