By

Des Wilson

It sneaked upon us like the thief at night. What started a few years ago as a political con game has become a harvest of evil. We saw it in Rivers State and soon it crept into Delta and Bayelsa States. The big political con masters with the financial muscle played it out on the streets in broad daylight settling scores with those they perceived to be threats to their ambitions to be the everlasting rulers in the land.In this murderous reign of terror they also attempted to hijack the legitimate struggle of some patriots who saw in the rule from Abuja a new enslavement which seemed primed to last forever. The Obasanjos of this world with their own secret agendas plotted alongside our own sons ready to sacrifice their birthright for a political mesh of pottage. Dubious groups most of them doubling as terror squads made our land so unsafe that even their foreign collaborators exploiting our resources found our environment uninhabitable. And many of them had to vote with their feet.Then in 2007, Akwa Ibom that had prided itself as the most peaceful state in the land no terror squads, kidnappers, hostage-takers, assassins and murderers of various descriptions soon became a top member of the league of felon states where young Turks with dubious antecedents took over the commanding heights of state responsibilities. When we saw the emerging trend we had warned then that if we were not careful we would upstage Port Harcourt in this criminality game. No one listened to us. Today it is a harvest of deaths on our streets almost on a daily basis. We are now in the top league.Now a band of criminals has been unleashed on the land. Some of those arrested have allegedly confessed to being former political agents and thugs of political parties and leaders. They claim they were abandoned after delivering electoral victories to the party, and that in order to survive they have had to resort to human robbery the type they call kidnapping. These marauding gangs have unwittingly been unleashed on the population by the political class and we all stand guilty. We are now casualties of our own evil devices. No one is safe including the old pay masters.We were told that when it all started it was organized to silence and financially incapacitate political opponents of whatever description or coloration. But as it happened in the legitimate struggle of patriotic Niger Deltans, even those who were used to perpetuate the crime soon discovered that they had a powerful weapon in their hands, a crude and wicked way of making a living or dying.The problem now is not just the kidnapping and the payment of ransom but the criminal waste of lives when the victims recognize their assailants. It baffles me why those who are familiar with their potential victims go after them when they know they would be recognized. This doesn't look like a neatly organized 'profession'. Criminal gangs have their own code of conduct. These kidnappers don't seem to have one.When they mowed down two brothers last week on the streets of Uyo where was the ransom money they got? I thought the idea was taking money not human life! Like many other criminal gangs we must now begin to look at their sources of strength. There are widespread reports that there are also criminal elements among those who are supposed to protect us who provide protection for these faceless groups. These reports must be investigated through interviews with those who deliver ransom money.Perhaps some of those who are crying foul over the restrictions being placed on cyclists know why they are disturbed. Most reports say that ransoms are delivered to motorcyclists who move in droves when the money is to be collected. I know that in every legislation some innocent persons suffer but such persons should take it as the sacrifice they have to make for the society. We hear that in some states kidnappers hold their hostages for as meager an amount as one thousand naira. We must not degenerate to this level.People cry out against the collapse of business in the land. But we are not honest about it. Government has purchased cars and buses for party faithfuls to be used in intercity and intracity transportation. People don't ask why those cars and buses are not available at night. If there is honesty on all sides government, security agents, the business class, transporters and the ordinary citizens it would be easier to handle the present night transportation crisis. Government on its part must monitor those who collected these cars and buses and find out what they are doing with them. There must be those who believe these must be their own reward for their faithfulness to the party. These are the people who are helping to give the government a bad name not the opposition forces (if they still exist).In addition, we must have community policing. The security forces alone cannot control crime in society. Landlords and tenants must be more alert about those who live with them. If a landlord does not get into a written tenancy agreement with his potential tenant in these times, then such a landlord must take responsibility if a criminal is discovered in his house.We should not because of the fat rent we hope to get just allow someone into our premises without asking vital questions, whose answers we should try to verify with appropriate authorities. Tenants must also watch their neighbours and listen and watch for any telltale signs. We should not be afraid to ask questions of strangers we find in our environment. All these should be done for the good health of society.Thus Government has its responsibilities just as the citizens. If all we do is cry, we shall cry ourselves to death. We must suspect even those who claim to protect us because there is wickedness in the heart of man which sometimes turns otherwise good men into agents of Lucifer. Suspect all men even when they carry the bible, for a lot of crimes has been unleashed on society through the instrumentation of the holy book. Watch and pray. The survival game is on.