WikkiTimes Publisher Raises Alarm Over Uncle’s Kidnap, Questions Tinubu’s Security Emergency

WikkiTimes Publisher Raises Alarm Over Uncle’s Kidnap, Questions Tinubu’s Security Emergency

The Publisher of WikkiTimes, Haruna Mohammed Salisu, has gone public with a harrowing account of his uncle’s abduction, describing it as a stark example of what he termed “the cruel arithmetic of ransom” and the widening gap between official security declarations and realities on the ground.

In a detailed statement, Salisu revealed that his uncle and nine others have remained in captivity for over three weeks despite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s November 26, 2025 declaration of a nationwide security emergency.

During that address, President Tinubu vowed that there would be “no more hiding places for agents of evil,” ordered security agencies to intensify forest operations, and approved the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers.

However, Salisu questioned the practical meaning of the declaration for ordinary Nigerians.

“What exactly does a security emergency mean to a poor man in Nigeria who wakes before dawn, works until he cannot, and is asking for nothing more extraordinary than the right to return to his family at the end of the day?” he asked.

According to him, the emergency has so far meant “nothing” to his family, as his uncle remains in captivity in a forest he said security agencies have yet to effectively secure.

₦100 Million Ransom Demand

Salisu disclosed that the kidnappers initially made what he described as a “calculated demand” based on their surveillance of his uncle’s modest lifestyle. However, after weeks in captivity, they allegedly increased the ransom to ₦100 million.

He described the demand as economically impossible for a subsistence family.

“At Nigeria’s current minimum wage of ₦70,000 per month, ₦100 million represents 119 years of earnings,” he noted, arguing that such a figure underscores the structured nature of what he called a “kidnapping economy.”

Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Salisu said Nigerians paid approximately $1.42 billion in ransoms between May 2023 and April 2024, suggesting that kidnapping has evolved into a well-organized criminal enterprise with “pricing strategies and market intelligence.”

A Journalist’s Personal Ordeal

Salisu, who founded WikkiTimes in 2018 to investigate governance and security failures, said he had previously been arrested, detained, and forced to flee Nigeria over his reporting.

He explained that the family initially avoided going public with the kidnapping, fearing that his residence in the United States could inflate ransom demands. However, he said the kidnappers eventually learned of his location, further complicating the situation.

“We are still waiting. Nothing from the state,” he wrote, expressing frustration that, in his view, the government’s security response has produced press statements more readily than rescued hostages.

Call for Institutional Accountability

In his statement, Salisu named key security institutions — including the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) — urging them to act decisively.

“I am naming the institutions responsible not to perform outrage but because accountability without specificity is decoration,” he said, adding that he believes the agencies possess intelligence capable of locating his uncle and others in captivity.

He argued that government success metrics often focus on the number of criminals neutralized rather than the number of hostages safely rescued, describing this as a “deliberate measurement choice.”

Broader Security Concerns

Salisu’s statement has reignited debate over the effectiveness of the federal government’s security emergency declaration, particularly in rural and forested communities frequently targeted by bandits.

He maintained that poor and rural Nigerians — whom he referred to as the “Talakawa” — remain disproportionately vulnerable to abduction and ransom demands.

“The lives of the poor should not be processed as invisible,” he stated, insisting that constitutional provisions designate security as the primary purpose of government.

As of press time, security agencies had not issued an official response to Salisu’s public appeal.

The case adds to growing national anxiety over kidnapping, ransom payments, and the capacity of state institutions to deliver on promises made under the declared security emergency.

By PRNigeria