Following the kidnap of the Senior Pastor of the Word Alive Church in Calabar, Rev Mike Obiora alongside his daughter yesterday night, chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, in Cross River State, Anthony Attah has charged Gov Bassey Otu to do more in the area of security than just promising to arrest culprits.
Recall that Governor Otu had two weeks ago, hinted that he was about to acquire a special technology that can detect kidnappers in any part of the state. He also disclosed that due to his strong desire to stem the high tide of kidnappings and armed robbery in the state, Otu was ready to enforce the state’s extant law on kidnapping, which prescribes death by hanging.
A female commissioner in Ayade’s administration, Gertrude Njar spent 35 days with kidnappers before release after a hefty ransom was paid.
The Nigeria Medical Association in Cross River also disclosed that 14 of their doctors were kidnapped in the state in five years, decrying the inability to secure the safe return of Neurologist, Prof Ekanem Ephraim of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, who was kidnapped on 13 July 023,
In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, Attah said, “Kidnapping has become a recurring decimal in both the state capital and in the hinterlands, and the government has always maintained a well-rehearsed position.
“The government needs to do much more than promising to arrest the culprits and condemning the act.”
Attah said security agencies in the state should intensify their quest for intelligence, insisting that the criminal elements are not from the moon because they coexist with the people.
Attah said the reason he keeps demanding a ‘viable and vibrant local government system’ is because the governor and the state alone cannot handle the hydra-headed monster of kidnapping bedevilling communities across the state.
According to Attah, “Beyond what is reported at the state capital and its environs, the level of kidnapping going on in the rural areas is an unmitigated catastrophe.”
Leave empty rhetorics, do something about kidnapping in Cross River – IPAC to Gov Otu