Why I needed to document my kidnap experience – Banigbe

Folarin Philip Banigbe is a journalist, publisher and IT entrepreneur. He is also the author of ‘Abduction Chronicles’, where he shared his experience in the hands of kidnappers. Here, he talks about his book, the online platform established to help kidnap victims, and more. Excerpts:

Bookshelf: At what point after your experience in the hands of kidnappers did you decide it was important to give a full account in book form?

Folarin Philip Banigbe: To be honest I didn’t think I would write a book about it, but while I was in there (captivity) I had the inspiration, a voice saying “you will write a book about this.” At that time, it was something I thought shouldn’t have happened to me. I felt that since I was serving God, it shouldn’t happen to me. I was disappointed.

When I was free and began to piece together information about kidnapping, armed banditry and people’s desensitized approach, it occurred to me that I needed to document my experience and make it as graphic as possible so that people can be awoken from their slumber. So people believe it actually happens. When you come out of such an experience there are so many things you don’t reveal, and this inability to give such details means others don’t get to know. I decided to write a book to capture those details so people know what goes on when such criminality happens.

Bookshelf: You were watched at some point and taken care of by a young man who was about to write WAEC. Can you share some of the conversations you had?

Banigbe: There were several conversations. Some were pleasant, some not so pleasant. The WAEC boy, like I call him in the book, was in a rotating group of nine young men. They usually do three people per shift and three shifts in a day, so I had nine boys guarding me. The WAEC boy was the most interesting because he engaged me the most from the moment I was captured. He gave me the first piece of advice on how to deal with his boss and then regularly he would talk to me about situational issues and all of that. From him I realised that criminals rationalize their criminality. Nigerians have multiple personalities. The way you see somebody in a church or a mosque is pretty much not who he is at home or in the presence of his friends.

Some of the men guarding me talked about how they were going to take some girls out later and have some drinks. They simply take up criminality as an occupation and then go back to their normal lives. I looked around and kept asking myself how many people like this could be regular people by day but criminals in the night and you won’t even know.

Some of the other conversations I had is that because of the lack of social safety net, we find a lot of younger people tipping into crime, because the way it works, they welcome you and provide your most basic needs and then they introduce you to the criminality. If we had a social safety net in Nigeria, maybe half or more than half of the people going into criminality would not have to because we would have foster homes, basic sustainability and issues dealt with. The WAEC boy lost his parents whom he said he never knew, and he had a grandmother who looked after him until he was five and then she also passed away. So, since age five he has been on the streets, and so for him anybody who extends a helping hand would become his family no matter what they tell him to do. If you look around Nigeria today the situation of poverty drives most people into certain places. This is the way they think. They do not know right or wrong because it is a question of survival.

My kidnap is commonly referred to as targeted kidnapping or profiled kidnapping. They broke into my home in Port Harcourt just after midnight and I only knew that something was happening when I heard sounds that made it look like they were breaking down something. They were actually pulling out one of the burglary proofs from the wall. That was the only way they could have entered. I assumed they were area boys trying to steal a few things, but afterwards I realized they were more serious criminals when I engaged them, they shot into the house. They knew who they wanted and robbed us blind before taking me.

The chain was long and I realised how sophisticated criminality was. Those who picked me up were different from the transportation party who then handed me over to the keeper, before I had to talk to the negotiator.

Bookshelf: What do you think is the cause of these kidnappings across the country and how can it be tackled?

Banigbe: What people point to is usually poverty. But my defence is why are the rest of the poor not kidnapping or robbing people? Others say it’s the economic factor. I say again, why are only a section of the population turning to criminality? There are others also affected by Nigeria’s economic situation. Why didn’t they take to criminality? So many reasons come up, but that is not enough. As with all criminality, one is greed and two, substance abuse. Third, we have a problem with drugs and betting. When someone is dependent on a substance, they will find a way to fuel that lifestyle. Another factor is lack of respect for human life, and then the absence or loss of values. There is also the loss of the sense of community. So, this WAEC boy would have been taken off the streets if they had provided for him.

Bookshelf: You wrote about the role of some security agents in such criminal acts. Kindly elaborate on this?

Banigbe: I have a chapter in the book I titled ‘The Victim, The victimised and The Usurpers’. This is where I chronicled my lessons from that experience. One of the conclusions I arrived at is that the common man has no security in Nigeria. On the one hand we are being attacked by bandits, on the other we are desecrated by the government. I did say in defence of security forces that it is not all security men that are bad. But if a society breeds more bad than good people, there will be more bad people

When I was free and began to piece together information about kidnapping, armed banditry and people’s desensitized approach, it occurred to me that I needed to document my experience and make it as graphic as possible so that people can be awoken from their slumber

in our institutions.

I said in the book that the policeman doesn’t have any motivation to fight crime in Nigeria, and I don’t blame them. Between those who kidnapped me, I counted about ten AK47 rifles. The average policeman doesn’t carry arms that would match this. They are under-paid, undermanned and under armed. So when they lose their lives in the service of Nigeria, their families are in trouble.

If it was a rich man that was kidnapped, there would be some pressure and attempt to find him. If not, we are sunk into the habit of paralyses of action by the security agencies. One of the people who worked with me used to be a policeman, and one of the things he said at that time to the people at home, having found out I was taken from home, was that they should pray I come back. In his opinion, that category of kidnapping only happens when security forces are aware.

If I look at the actions of the police force during that event, I conclude that there is no security for the average man.

Bookshelf: You have a website where families or kidnap victims can reach out. What is the update on that?

Banigbe: The response has been low. I had a family who needed someone to negotiate with a kidnapper and I found such a person through that platform because we ask people to volunteer their skills. They could be negotiators, lawyers or psychologists. However, the victims themselves are ashamed or afraid to come forward. There was a woman who was kidnapped along OkeneLokoja and her sister reached out to me. Unfortunately, the victim refused to talk to me. She had never spoken about her experience to anybody, so obviously she is traumatised.

The platform is there for us to give them anonymity. You can also relate with me because I am a victim and have some elementary tutelage on counselling that enables me to know when someone is traumatised. When I find that out, we have psychiatrists who are into trauma counselling. They ascertain the level of trauma and encourage the individual to start treatment. We get funding from the book sales and what people donate to help such a person.