VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013—41
I N S I D E
State of emergency: Jonathan is right, no he's not — Page 43
The Supreme Court's approach to exemplary damages (4) — Page 43
Kidnappers versus Judicial officers? BY AWA KALU, SAN
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AST weekend (week ending 11th May, 2013) the nation woke up with rude shock-arising from the abduction by gunmen, of the wife, daughter and driver of an eminent judicial officer, a Justice of the Supreme Court. Most men and women of goodwill including Dame Carol Ajie, Festus Kayamo and Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the ‘Akpakpa VighiVighi’ of a famous kingdom and human rights crusader, issued a statement condemning in very strong terms, the brazen challenge to the security of Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s family. I too must lend my voice to the rising threat to the security of judicial officers. To mention but a few incidents, a well respected Judge of the Imo State Judiciary was kidnapped on his way to work a few years ago. Subsequently, a Judge of the Delta State Judiciary suffered the same ignominy. Now, an eminent Justice of the highest court in the land must be going through an experience that anyone who has worked so hard should not be compelled to endurethe ordeal of not knowing the condition of a loving wife and a doting daughter together with a dutiful
•CJN Mariam Aloma Mukhtar
adorning the toga of one of the most insecure places on planet earth. We are becoming the laughing stock of the international community. For God’s sake, kidnappers, or whoever you are, release immediately and unhurt, Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s lovely wife, daughter and driver”. It does not appear useful to belabour the Ozekhome angle in that at the time of preparing this piece, neither a demand for ransom nor an explanation for the dastardly act has been offered.
Whatever angle we view it from, the fact remains that Nigeria is fast descending into the abyss of systematic annihilation
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Driver. Something must be done about our collective security. Of this incident, Chief Ozekhome, had this to say: Justice RhodesVivour, a well-acclaimed jurist, is merely a judicial officer, not an entrepreneur. His wife is a legal practitioner, not a business woman. Only on September 13, 2012, his son, Rotimi, was also abducted with a N30 million Naira ransom demand. Why is this madness targeted at a peace-loving and hardworking jurist who has served Nigeria meritoriously? Is this persecution by faceless merchants and buccaneers masterminded by politicians who have vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable? Or is it by mere kidnappers for the sake of ransom money alone? If so, where do they expect a serving justice of the apex court to cough out ransom money? Whatever angle we view it from, the fact remains that Nigeria is fast descending in to the abyss of systematic annihilation. It is more and more C M Y K
•President Jonathan
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It would therefore serve no useful purpose to speculate on the reasons for this latest assault on judicial independence. In 2009, in this column, I noted that: Like darkness, the sad upsurge of kidnapping has enveloped with ease, certain parts of this country. According to H. Loewy (Criminal Law in a Nutshell (2nd ed.1987), ‘at early common law, kidnapping required asportation of the victim to another country. Under modern statutes, the asportation need not be this extensive’. Asportation is simply the act of carrying away or removing (property or person). The crime consists of seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud. The offence may also be aggravated by some other factors such as a demand for ransom or causing injury to the victim. At the moment, the offence is prevalent in the southern parts of the country. To that extent, it appears that it is covered by the provisions of section
364 of the Criminal Code. The offence may be committed either by unlawfully imprisoning any person, and taking him out of Nigeria without his consent, or unlawfully imprisoning any person within Nigeria in such a manner as to prevent him from applying to a court for his release or from disclosing to any other person the place where he is imprisoned or in such a manner as to prevent any person entitled to have access to him from discovering the places where he is imprisoned. The penalty is a term of imprisonment for ten years. As things stand, there is no doubt that there are many Nigerians who would not mind if they slept and woke up in the United States of America or the United Kingdom even without their consent. The vagaries and vicissitudes of life in our dear country has raised frustration levels to an all time high but what is self evident is that the perpetrators of the now notorious offence of kidnapping have neither the means nor the desire to take any person out of Nigeria with or without the person’s consent. Rather, where they take you to, from available evidence, usually depends on those who snatch you either from the highway, a church, or even a gathering. In some cases, you may be snatched from your bedroom. It does not matter what your age is, whether you are old, young, very young, or quite aged. There is also no discrimination as to gender-men and women are all eligible provided you look like you can bleed in Naira or any other currency when you are kept away from home for a few days or even weeks . There are variants of the offence
now and the prevalence is leading to a modification, no matter how subtle in our culture. In the South-East for instance, there are indications that Masters of Ceremony no longer announce the names of persons required to be at the High Table. Anonymity is the beginning of wisdom. In addition, prolonged social gatherings no longer seem to be the norm just as presentation of invitation cards appears to be a vanishing act. All you need do these days is to send text messages via mobile phones or emails to your prospective invitees to inform them about your occasions or parties unless you have the ‘ where-with-all’ to flood the venue of your social event with security operatives. It is also thought to be the practice to refuse to advertise your movement. Those who were caught and carried to hideous places have narrated their ordeals particularly when you are given an opportunity to bargain for your freedom. Any offer sounding in ‘thousands’ is considered an affront and is usually taken as an indication that you are either stingy or unserious or worse still, not ready to be set free. The repercussion is that your trauma level is increased and more threats are offered. Yet another angle relates to the payment of the agreed ransom. In some simple cases, you may pay to an account nominated by your tormentor provided you promise that there will be no hanky- panky. In other cases, the ransom must come through an identifiable personname and colour of dress for instance, must be known. The ‘deliverer’ is then given a run-around until you come to a point where it is believed that you are not up to any prank and you drop the stuff and
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EDITORIAL TEAM Dayo Benson (Editor) Innocent Anaba Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri