Nigeria Content Online

The Edo State command of the Nigeria Police on
Tuesday attributed the recent spate of kidnappings and other violent
crimes in the state to the delay in reporting criminal cases to enable
the police authorities embark on prompt action.

Residents of the ancient city were just recovering
from the shock of the brutal assassination of 86-year-old female
politician, Grace Osakwe, when the news of the abduction of Olabisi
Ihenyen, the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Psychiatric
Hospital, Uselu, Benin, and her husband, Lionel, broke.

To compound the apparent embarrassment of the
security agencies and their failure to check the spate of kidnappings,
Lucy Omagbon, a former commissioner of Lands, Survey and Housing in the
state, was also reported kidnapped last Sunday.

Delay by relatives

Reacting to the security situation in the state, the
command’s acting public relations officer, Ejiroro Ahwara, decried the
delay in reporting such cases to the command by relatives of victims.

He stated that rather than prompt reporting of
abduction cases to the police, relatives of the victims usually engage
in negotiation with the kidnappers.

“The police are compelled to work under critical
situations when the families of the victims are already negotiating
with the kidnappers,” he said.

Mr Awhara appealed to members of the public to always
be on the alert and also to report criminal activities and any
suspicious movements to the police on time. He also revealed that the
abductors of Mrs Omagbon had contacted her relatives.

Mrs Ihenyen and her husband regained their freedom
from their captors on Monday night, although this could not be
confirmed as at press time. It was also not clear how much their family
paid out in ransom. We, however, gathered that the family had offered
the sum of N5 million to the kidnappers, which was allegedly refused.

Medical workers in the state, especially in Benin, had embarked on
strikes to protest the kidnap of medical personnel and to pressurise
the government to crack down on kidnap gangs in the state.