AS IT clocked seven days today since twenty medical students from the University of Jos and University of Maiduguri were abducted along Otukpo-Enugu highway in Benue State without any profound positive news other than the ransom demand of N50 million, some members of the public have begun to express concerns about the intelligence methodology that may have been adopted to rescue them.
A number of public-spirited individuals who initially called National Record upon reading the news expressed optimism on the prompt freedom of the students, as hours turned into days and the days now into a week, many of the early responders to the news are now asking questions that tended to expose the flaws and weaknesses in the security arrangement on not only the Enugu-Otukpo highway but also in the handling of the abduction.
One of the callers, who pleaded anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his intervention, said it is baffling that the kidnappers are alleged to be using mobile phone numbers of the victims to demand ransom from their parents.
“The first question begging for answer is where is the driver and conductor of the vehicle from which the students were abducted. There may not be a conductor, but who is the driver?
“All the reports I have read only gave the number of students; what happened to the driver? Was the vehicle hired from the motor park? What sort of commercial vehicle is it? The caller asked.
For another caller, the twenty students couldn’t have been moved on the major high way after they were kidnapped. “How were 20 people moved from the point of kidnapping without the bus, as we heard that the bus was abandoned? That is, if the students were taken from a bus as reported in the media. Was the driver of the bus killed or he was taken along with them? Which company’s bus did they charter? Another caller, who also pleaded anonymity, asked.
A third caller questioned the essence of NIN registration if security agencies are not able utilize it in the tracking of criminals in times of need.
According to him, “if the victims’ phones are being used, is it impossible to track the location for operational purpose?” he noted that if the police have already deployed this technology to detect where the abducted students are kept, they should give the victims’ families some level of hope that the kidnappers are being tracked.
Noting that if technology were adequately deployed, the source said there would have been a positive outcome since last Thursday when the abduction occurred. He further stated that if the kidnapers did not use the major highway after the abduction, the natural question was which were the possible routes around the scene of the incident did they use?
“Did they move on foot? One of the students used phone to send Google coordinates, Google maps, sharing on his Facebook the ransom demand and all that. These things are enough for the police to be able to track; sources to know whether victims are still in Benue or within the environment.
“If they trekked, could they have trekked more than 10 kilometers in the night? There are three or more checkpoints from Otukpo to that point and from that point to Ugbokolo, there are multiple checkpoints that can’t be counted and they are mounted by soldiers all the time. They couldn’t have gone from that point to even Eke without passing through three or four checkpoints. If they went off road, they must have trekked and the roads are bad and they must have been sighted by members of the communities around the area; they must have passed one community or the other,” the caller pointed out.
A senior security personnel had confided in National Record on Tuesday stating that the best option for kidnapped victims is for their family to pay ransom, explaining a number of constraints for the unusual advice.
“The best thing for people to do when their relatives are kidnapped is to pay ransom, if they have money, so as to rescue their loved ones.
“This is because we know where the criminals are but they are well fortified. One, the villagers give them information whenever we are going there and secondly, the kidnappers cover themselves with the victims. So, how can you bomb 20 innocent people? There will be too much cry. So, the best thing is to pay ransom,” the top official security officer revealed.
