DIEGO FERNANDEZ CEVALLOS, FREED AFTER 7 MONTHS AND A KING'S RANSOM.

It would appear that kidnappers in Nigeria are afterall, still very amateurish, dirt-cheap and not daring enough compared with the kidnappers in Mexico. There a wealthy and powerful high profile lawyer and politician, an influential member of the president's party, a senator as well as a former presidential candidate was nabbed and held for seven long months until a king's ransom of $20 million was finally negotiated and paid for his release in what was described as the highest of the high profiles and most brazen kidnapping in Mexico's recent history. The fact that the negotiation lasted that long is a testament to the Mexicans trouncing their Nigerian counterpart in the mastery of the game and it safely ended without the shedding of blood. There was no shaking on their part; but a steady and surely footed bandits turning into ransom negotiators?

Diego Fernandez de Cevallos who was freed Monday, December 20, 2010 said that as far as the kidnappers are concerned, he being a man of faith, he has forgiven them; but as a citizen, he thinks the authorities in Mexico have some work to do to stem the tide. Icheoku says if it takes such a high profile case to awaken the Mexican authorities, may be those Nigerian kidnappers should target those high profile politicians in Abuja and elsewhere instead; and leave poor innocent and hardworking Nigerian women and children alone. A statement by Cevallos' kidnappers said that he is "corrupt and arrogant" and that his kidnapping was "a blow against the plutocracy and an act of reparation." Icheoku can understand the frustration of many hungry people in a highly corrupt country but does not in anyway support or approval of such criminality of kidnapping for ransom or any other untoward means to achieve a means or make a statement.

It would be recalled that the family of Cevallos during the negotiations for his released urged the Mexican authorities to "stay out of this process in order to help the negotiation." Icheoku says they probably understood the game better than the government, and what it takes to play to win and did not want any government meddling with the negotiations. Icheoku congratulates Cevallos for making it through the seven months his ordeal lasted and hopes he will write a book about his experience to assist other would-be kidnap victims live through it and survive to write or tell their own stories.