LAGOS MAY 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Having paid a ransom three times to secure the freedom of his loved ones, Nigerian businessman Lawal Ado is not impressed by moves to outlaw payments to kidnappers. A controversial bill to criminalise ransom payments is the latest attempt to curb the country’s spiralling and lucrative kidnapping industry. It proposes a jail…
LAGOS APRIL 27TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The Senate has passed a bill seeking to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013, which will prohibit the payment of ransom to kidnappers in Nigeria. The passage of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill, 2022, followed the consideration of a report by the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters….
LAGOS APRIL 20TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Gunmen have kidnapped an Akwa Ibom-based televangelist, John Okoriko. The gunmen kidnapped the cleric on Tuesday evening when they invaded the headquarters of the church in his village, Ibekwe Akpanya in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of the state Mr Okoriko is the president and founder of the Solid Rock Kingdom Church….
LAGOS SEPTEMBER 11TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The closure of many markets across the North West is taking a heavy toll on bandits. At least four governors closed markets in their states as part of measures to check banditry. Few days after the closure of markets in some rural areas in Sokoto, bandits demanded food to release their captives….
LAGOS AUGUST 25TH (NEWSRANGERS)-After armed men snatched seven of Abubakar Adam’s 11 children in northwestern Nigeria, he sold his car and a parcel of land and cleaned out his savings to raise a ransom to free them. He sent his 3 million naira ($7,300) into the bush, together with payments from other families in his…
LAGOS JULY 25TH (NEWSRANGERS)-A 45-year-old pastor, Ndifreke Udo Amos, has been arrested by operatives of the FIB Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT) for allegedly helping a kidnap gang in the abduction of an 80-year-old man, Pa Anthony Ugbuzor Idornigie. The octogenarian victim was said to be sitting in his house at No 7, Garage Street, Itoki,…
LAGOS JULY 13TH (NEWSRANGERS)-A new report claims that no fewer than 2,371 people were kidnapped in Nigeria between January and June 2021. The Monday July 12 report by geopolitical intelligence platform, SBM Intelligence says not only was this large number of people kidnapped within such a short frame but N10b was demanded as ransom, although…
LAGOS JUNE 14TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Report has emerged that no fewer that eighty four ships were attacked and one hundred and thirty seafarers abduct by sea pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in 2020. According to the International Maritime Bureau, there were nearly 50 percent increase in kidnapping for ransom between 2018 and 2019, and around 10…