By George Mgbeleke

Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has tasked the Nigerian intelligence community and thd armed forces of Nigeria to adopt similar technique adopted by the Army in Borno state or much more sophisticated intelligence led actions to catch kidnappers before they successfully negotiate and pick up ransoms from relatives of victims of kidnappings by terrorists.

In a statement by the National Coordinator the group,Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko,
HURIWA said ” We are hereby calling on the Minister of Defence General Christopher Gwabin Musa, Chief of Defence Sraff, the National Security Adviser, Army chiefs, Air Force chief of Staff and Naval Chief of Staff of Nigeria to set up a joint committee to fish out saboteurs and criminal elements embedded in the armed forces who are using their privileged positions to aid and abet terrorism, kidnappings and other sophisticated crimes that have substantially gone undetected for years.

“The Defence minister must take the job of fishing out saboteurs as a fundamental task if Nigeria ever hopes to defeat terrorists and their affiliates who are kidnapping Citizens for ransom just as most of these kidnappers are engaging in HUMAN ORGANS TRAFFICKING.”

The group expressed optimism that if the intelligence community in the country and the armed forces as a collective can copy the intelligence led technique of the Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), the Military Joint Task Force responsible for counter-terrorism in the Northeast, which successfully identified Shariff Umar as the key coordinator of recent suicide bombing activities in the zone, then kidnappers and terrorists wouldn’t successfully negotiate freely and pick up humongous amount of ransoms from their victims unless and except there are saboteurs embedded within the armed forces who benefit from the multi billion dollars kidnapping industry in Nigeria.

“What then are the functions and powers of military police? What are the functions of Nigerian Intelligence organisations in Nigeria including the Department of State Services and why are the communication and telephone conversations of terrorists and kidnappers not been effectively flagged down, monitored and the suspected terrorists arrested and prosecuted for their crimes against humanity? The honourable minister of Defence who incidentally was the immediate past Defence chief of Nigeria, should prioritise the fishing out of public enemies who are working within the military set ups to actively undermine the war on terror and the counter-kidnapping activities of the armed security forces of Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that in the North East, findings by OPHK show that Umar is responsible for recruiting, preparing, directing, and dispatching suicide bombers to assigned targets, as well as coordinating logistics and delivery of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) components.

The Media Information Officer of the JTF, Lt Col Sani Uba, said in a statement on Saturday that the confession of 14 suspects arrested during intelligence-led cordon-and-search operations revealed that Umar is the coordinator of recent suicide bombings.

Uba said the cordon-and-search operations were conducted at the Kalmari area of Maiduguri on 31 December 2025.
“Subsequent detailed identification and investigative processes established the structure, roles, and operational linkages of the terror cell.

“During the investigation, a suspected suicide bomber currently in custody, Ibrahim Muhammad, unequivocally identified Shariff Umar (also known as ‘Yusuf’) as the ringleader and coordinator of the terror network.

HURIWA therefore challenged the hierarchy of the Armed forces of Nigeria to look inwards for serving officers who are patrons of kidnappers and terrorists that actively undermine the efforts by the security forces to combat terrorist attacks and the incessant cases of kidnappings for ransoms that happen in parts of Nigeria.

HURIWA is therefore shocked and concerned that the Armed forces and the entire intelligence community in the country that gulps billions of Naira in yearly budget have so far failed on many occasions to intercept and arrest kidnappers and terrorists operating freely in the country with the particular case of the kidnappers of the Kwara State traditional ruler, the Oniwo of Aafin, Oba Simeon Olaonipekun, his son, Olaolu, and other abducted villagers who have demanded a ransom of N450 million for their release. The Rights group described the inability of the armed forces to track kidnappers who freely use communication gadgets in Nigeria as a spectacular sabotage of the national security interest of Nigeria by some persons within the armed forces given that billions of dollars have been committed by the Nigerian state in the procurement of crime fighting technologies in the past few years. Why is the National Assembly not demanding accountability?

Specifically addressing the widespread kidnappings in Kwara state, HURIWA recalled that a palace source (names withheld) made the huge ransom request by kidnappers known to a media house on the phone just as credible sources also confirmed that the abductors demanded N150 million for the monarch and his son, who is a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

According to a source, an additional N300 million ransom was demanded for the release of the other eight residents abducted in Adanla-Irese, a suburb of Igbaja in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.

The Coordinator of the Kwara South Joint Community Security Watch Network, Elder Olaitan Oyin-Zubair, confirmed that negotiations had begun for the release of the abductees.

“Only two days ago, the kidnappers demanded N300 million for the release of the Adanla abductees. Today, they demanded N150 million for the monarch and his son,” he said.

Recall that the monarch was abducted on Wednesday night, when gunmen reportedly stormed his palace in Aafin community, Ile-Ire district of Ifelodun LGA, at about 8 pm.

HURIWA alluded to the widely published story of a trafficking incident in Mali involving a Nigerian female victim but the prompt action of the Malian armed forces led to the interception and arrest of the kidnappers using intelligence monitoring gadgets just as Mr. P. Michael an anti- human trafficking activist narrated how Malian security solved thd kidnapping case within hours of it happening.

The anti-human trafficking campaigner quoted by HURIWA stated as follows: “Why do kidnappers succeed in collecting ransom from their victims? Based on my job, I learnt something special this week from Security Agents in Mali that we went on a rescue mission together. I don’t know if the Nigerian Security Agencies are in collaboration with kidnappers to take ransom and share together, if not no kidnapper can succeed in taking any ransom where security formation is effective.

The story is that, I received a message from Nigeria concerning a 16 year old girl that was trafficked to Mali for sex trade. This victim called her parents about the situation and they passed the message to me from government agency for an urgent rescue.

When I called the number that the victim used to call her parents and I asked the traffickers to send the victim to me so that she can go back to Nigeria, they refused. Later they remove the line from their phone, now the number is out of use. I now informed a security agent about the situation because what is important is to rescue the 16 years old girl from sexual exploitation.

Now, the number I used to contact the traffickers is no more in use. I don’t know the name of the village the victim is. I sent the number that they have removed and brake to the security agent. After two hours, they notify me the name of the village and the current new number the traffickers are using. We went on a mission without calling the new number. We arrived at the village in the midnight because it was about 15 hours journey. The second day, Information reach us the exact location the phone number was last used before they switched off the phone. After an hour, information came again that the person is having appointment with somebody by 11:00am. We hang around the place. When the person came around, there was a vibration from one of their security gadget to know the person coming with the number. We monitor her entry to the house. We were able to rescue the victim on 20/12/22. No call. Nothing.

So ransom collection in Nigeria could be between the kidnappers and security agencies. If not, no Nigerian should pay ransom to any kidnapper if really our policemen have the necessary security gadgets,” he concluded. HURIWA has therefore asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to set a deadline of three months for the service chiefs to reduce kidnappings and successful collection of ransoms to the barest minimum of 25% of the current high statistics or be dismissed from their highly esteemed offices.