Renowned Nigerian human rights lawyer and lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has challenged the Federal Government to publish a comprehensive list of Nigerians currently held in detention across the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and titled “Midweek Musing: The Arithmetic of Abandonment ,Can the Government Still Count Its Captives? A Call for Candour on Nigerians Still in Kidnappers’ Dens,” Ejiofor called on the Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser and relevant security agencies, to release a detailed and verifiable statistical account of Nigerians presently held in captivity nationwide.
He urged the government to provide clear records indicating :The total number of persons currently in kidnappers’ dens;The number rescued within the past year;
The number confirmed deceased;
The number whose status remains unknown;The states and localities most affected; andThe operational measures currently being deployed to secure their release.
Ejiofor who is Dunu–Ezeugosinachi noted that transparency is not a sign of weakness but a fundamental instrument of accountability in a democratic society.
According to him, families of victims deserve the dignity of official acknowledgment and consistent updates regarding the fate of their loved ones.
“Even if their loved ones remain in captivity, they must at least know that the State has not consigned them to bureaucratic oblivion,” he stated.
He further argued that while government may face enormous security challenges, it owes citizens a minimum obligation of documentation and disclosure.
“A government that cannot protect every citizen must, at the very least, be able to count them. If we cannot secure them, can we not at least number them? Or has the arithmetic of governance also become a casualty of insecurity?” he asked.
Ejiofor’s call comes amid growing public concern over rising cases of abductions and insecurity across various parts of the country, with many families reportedly left without reliable information about the status of abducted relatives.
Read the full statement:
MIDWEEK MUSING THE ARITHMETIC OF ABANDONMENT:CAN THE GOVERNMENT STILL COUNT ITS CAPTIVES ?
A Call for Candour on Nigerians Still in Kidnappers’ Dens
Is it now heretical to enquire whether the Government has lost count of the very citizens it is constitutionally bound to protect? Or are we to assume that statistics, like the victims themselves, have simply vanished into the forests?
Under the grundnorm of our country, the sacred foundation upon which our constitutional democracy rests, the raison d’être of government is unmistakably clear. The social contract between the State and the citizen is not ornamental prose; it is a solemn covenant. Citizens surrender certain freedoms and entrust sovereign authority to government in exchange for security, order, and protection. Of these obligations, none is more pivotal than the protection of life and property.
Yet, across the length and breadth of the Federation, kidnapping has metastasised into a grotesque industry. From agrarian communities to bustling townships, no demography is spared. Only yesterday, reports emerged of another brazen attack in Abia State, where jihadist terrorist reportedly abducted residents and razed property. A fortnight ago, the nation recoiled at a chilling video displaying over 170 captives said to have been taken from Woro community in Kwara State , their abductors not merely committing crime, but curating theatre.
The audacity is as disturbing as the violence. These criminals do not merely operate in shadows; they taunt, they publicise, and they mock. They release videos as though issuing quarterly performance reports, while the State appears content to issue press statements of “ongoing efforts.” One is tempted , albeit reluctantly, to ask whether the kidnappers now possess a more reliable database of Nigerians in captivity than the institutions funded to prevent such captivity.
Consider the sequence in Kaduna State: after the ceremonious reception of 183 worshippers who regained their freedom, relief and applause briefly filled the air. Yet scarcely had the echoes of celebration faded before fresh abductions were reported in the same state. In Enugu, Katsina, Benue, Adamawa, Niger, and Borno, similar narratives persist, communities attacked, families shattered, numbers announced, numbers forgotten. The list grows; the accounting appears not to.
This is not a partisan lamentation. It is a constitutional enquiry.
I therefore respectfully call upon the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly through the Office of the National Security Adviser and the relevant security agencies, to publish a comprehensive and verifiable statistical account of Nigerians presently held in captivity across the Federation.
Let the nation know: the total number of persons currently in kidnappers’ dens; the number rescued within the past year; the number confirmed deceased; the number whose status remains unknown; the states and localities most affected; the operational measures presently deployed for recovery.
Transparency is not an act of weakness; it is an instrument of accountability. Families of victims deserve the dignity of acknowledgment. Even if their loved ones remain in captivity, they must at least know that the State has not consigned them to bureaucratic oblivion.
A government that cannot protect every citizen must, at the very least, be able to count them.
If we cannot secure them, can we not at least number them? Or has the arithmetic of governance also become a casualty of insecurity?
History will judge not merely the ferocity of criminal gangs, but the fortitude, or otherwise , of those entrusted with sovereign power. Silence is not strategy. Opacity is not security. And statistics withheld are trust eroded.
The Nigerian people do not ask for rhetoric. They ask for truth.
And truth, like security, is not optional in a constitutional democracy.
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