Take Urgent Steps Against Kidnapping In Edo – Lawyers To Oshiomhole

Adams-OshiomholeLegal practitioners in Edo State have urged Governor Adams Oshiomhole to address the menace of kidnapping in the state.

They gave the advice in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Benin while commenting on the kidnap of Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Ozekhome, a renowned lawyer and human right activist, was allegedly abducted by gunmen alongside with his driver and two others two weeks ago on the Benin-Auchi road.

Four police men died during the incident.

A lawyer, Ben Akhigbe said “If someone of Ozekhome’s status that has spent most of his life fighting for the oppressed can be kidnapped, it then means that none of us is safe.

“It is not just enough to buy firearms; the government at federal and state levels must begin to think of tackling the problem by creating employment opportunities.”

Another lawyer, Mathew Edaghese, however, said that unemployment should not be an excuse for any person to take to kidnapping.

He called on Edo Government to do more in terms of agriculture and establishment of industries to create jobs for the people.

“If unemployment is the reason for kidnapping, then everybody would have become a kidnapper.

“What is happening in Edo today calls for a serious concern.

“I don’t want to restrict myself to the kidnap of Ozekhome, I think his abduction has become a case of one kidnap too many in Edo.

“Edo is now the global headquarters for kidnapping and it is rather too sad,” he said.

The immediate past branch Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ekpoma Branch, Ayewoh Odias, also condemned Mr. Ozekhome’s kidnap and called for immediate action from the government to tackle the menace.

(NAN)