Mohammed said this while urging media practitioners to intensify efforts according to the priority of national interest in discharging their constitutional and professional duties.

He also noted that the marching order given by the President Muhammudu Buharu to security agents to hunt, pursue and speak to terrorists has started yielding positive results.

The minister made the call on Tuesday in Kano at the opening of a two-day National Conference on Culture, Peace and National Security: “The role of the media”, organised by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO).

Mohammed was represented by the Director, International Cultural Relations in the ministry, Mrs Maimuna Idu-Lah.

“It is against this background that the role of critical stakeholders, especially the media, cannot be overemphasised.

“Skewed reporting, as well as the phenomenon of fake news, hate speech and misinformation, has the capacity to worsen the security situation.

“They do not only create fear among the citizens but can also adversely affect the morale of our security personnel.

“We, therefore, appeal to our media practitioners to accord national interest priority in the discharge of their constitutional and professional duties,” he said.

The suspect, Adeola Omoniyi, disclosed that she had been delivering the kidnapped children to her father, Ilesanmi Omoniyi, who in turn pays her the sum of N30,000 for each operation.

According to the suspected kidnapper, who was paraded at the police headquarters alongside her father, she was apprehended at Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State while on her third mission.

Confessing how she had been carrying out the crime, she said “I’m a kidnapper. I do kidnap little children and I always deliver them to my father in his house at Igbotako. I was successful with the first two children I took but I was caught with the third one.

“After delivering the kids to my father, he used to give me N30,000 for each operation. I do use the money to take care of myself. I don’t know what he normally use the children for. All I do is just to take them to him.

“He was the one that told me to always bring the children to him. I picked the first child from Ilutitun and the from Ilowo.

“It was when I was taking the child away that the mother raised alarm.
People gathered to beat me and I was taken to the police station before I was moved to Akure.

“I have been doing the business for about two years. The first one was in 2021 and the second one this year. I always ask the children when they are alone that where are they going and I hold their hand and they will follow me.”

However, the father of the suspected criminal who said that her daughter lied against him, #tated that she had been battling mental issue.

“My daughter used to stay in Lagos. She used about two years in Lagos. She got sick and they brought her to me in Igbotako. She was stacked naked when they brought her to me.

“I later took her to a church where the pastor said I should pay N80,000. I sold my cassava and I paid the pastor. He later told me that she is better but few days after he called again that he could not find her as she had left the church.

“I’m the one that she used to bring the kids to. I have never given her N30,000. It was six months after she left the church that we have been looking for her that I heard that she went to steal a child.”

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Funmi Odunlami, maintained that the suspects would be charged to court after conclusion of investigation.

According to the bill, Nigerians who pay ransom to kidnappers and kidnappers who receive ransom risk 15 years imprisonment.

The Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which scaled second reading during plenary is sponsored by Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi.

Leading debate on the bill, the lawmaker said the piece of legislation seeks to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013 to outlaw the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorists for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped.

According to Onyewuchi, the bill essentially seeks to substitute for section 14 of the Principal Act a new section to read, “Anyone who transfers funds, makes payment or colludes with an abductor, kidnapper or terrorist to receive any ransom for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped is guilty of a felony and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years.”

He raised alarm that kidnapping has become a fast and lucrative business, adding that, “it has now remained the most virulent form of banditry in Nigeria and the most pervasive and intractable violent crime in the country.”

Continuing, the Senator said, “Kidnapping is on the increase in Nigeria and it is prevalent across all the geopolitical zones.

“Some blame the rise of this criminal activity on poverty, religion, politics, deficiency of existing laws, unemployment, connivance of security agents, corruption, and greed among others.

“Our unemployed youths are also turning out to kidnapping to get money (ransom) as a survival strategy.

“Whatever the reason, it is most obvious that kidnapping in Nigeria puts everyone at risk, the rich and the poor, old and young, male and female, foreigner or indigene, expatriate or non-expatriate, traditional rulers and religious leaders, among others.”

According to him, “The reason behind payments of ransom is rooted on the fact that people easily identify with individual suffering.

“However, History has shown that even where ransom is proven to have been paid, the life or safe return of a kidnap victim may not be guaranteed.”

He emphasised that “the continuous payment of ransom must not be encouraged, in addition government should provide adequate security and strengthen the economy as a matter of urgency, accelerate its poverty alleviation programs, provide employment opportunities targeting youths who are mostly involved in abductions and kidnappings, strengthen our law enforcement agencies, and provide the necessary support to end the menace of kidnapping”.

A relative affirmed the development however would not reveal the sum.

Recall that five heavily-armed men stormed enogie’s palace on Saturday evening shooting sporadically into the air, before abducting him from his living room to an unknown destination.

The kidnappers burnt their operational vehicle and got away in the ruler’s vehicle.

Affirming the capture, the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Dan Mohammed, had said on Sunday that a few suspects had been captured and were helping the Police in their investigation.

The Commissioner clarified that the enogie had a running fight with a portion of his subjects, who he prior reported to the Police.

Mohammed said, “Those we arrested said it is not kidnapping; that they took him to make peace with others and are making contact with those that took him to release him.”

He further stated that some enogie’s subjects had earlier attempted to burn his palace. Mohammed said: “He reported to us, but if he had told us that he was going there, we would have given him security.”

It will be recalled that some aggrieved youths last week took up arms against the enogie and destroyed property in the palace.

Some of them were arrested and few days after women in the community also protested and alleged that the enogie was traumatising them with his style of administration.

However, enogie had said the issue he had with the aggrieved persons was their re-introduction of Community Development Associations, CDAs, which had been banned by the Oba of Benin and the state government, alleging that they wanted to forcefully sell community lands to individuals through the banned association.