Nigeria, April 10 -- It's a most unlikely crime scene. I travelled by road from the Benin airport to Uromi, Esanland's most significant town, for a wedding about three years ago.

The fear of kidnappers is a constant worry for road users. I was nervous for nearly four hours of the taxi ride, especially as we turned off the busy Agbor Road and veered onto narrow, lonely roads meandering through many forested small towns and villages.

I was nervous. When the driver ran into a pothole, and a loud noise suggested we might have lost a wheel or something, I insisted he should keep moving, as long as the car could still move, until we later discovered it was the wheel cover.

Entering Uromi

It was not until we passed Ubiaja, the hotspot betwee...