Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has urged Nigerians who paid ransom to kidnappers to take the Federal Government to court and demand a refund, arguing that the state failed in its constitutional duty of protection. Speaking at the opening of the Legal Year of the Faculty of Law, Yakubu Gowon University, Abuja, Falana said the alarming rise in kidnapping across the country amounts to a violation of citizens’ rights under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
He decried what he described as a “class-based response” to kidnapping, saying the authorities quickly intervene when influential people are kidnapped while leaving ordinary citizens exposed. Going to court, he said, would force the government not only to live up to its responsibilities but to even enhance national security.
He spoke as new data from the NBS indicated that Nigerians, between May 2023 and April 2024, paid ransom amounting to N2.23 trillion. In the CESPS 2024, the crime experience and security perception survey, there were over 2.2 million kidnapping incidents during the period, with an average of N2.7 million paid in ransom per victim. Security experts warn that kidnapping has become a booming criminal industry which requires swift and coordinated intervention by government.
