• Wike: We’ve arrested kidnappers’ informants
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike held separate closed door meetings with heads of various security agencies, following recent upsurge in kidnapping within the nation’s capital, an operation to flush out the bandits has commenced.
President Tinubu had, during the meeting on Tuesday, said his administration would not tolerate any form of crime, even as Wike vowed that the issues would be addressed.
Saturday Sun has gathered that following the two separate meetings, security agencies were mandated to comb off forests, mountains and hills used by the assailants as their hideouts.
It was further gathered that the operation, which is expected to be in phases, would focus on Kubwa, Ushafa, Dutse, Dei-Dei, Bwari and environs. The second phase, sources familiar with the development said, will be extended to other Area Councils like Lugbe, Kuje, Gwagwalada and Kwali, as well as some parts of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Though no time frame was given, the security agencies are expected to push out the criminals from the nation’s capital and destroy their operational bases, from where major attacks are launched.
Meanwhile, Wike has announced the arrest of some informants working for kidnappers who had for some weeks launched daring attacks on some parts of the territory. The minister disclosed this on Friday during a town hall with various stakeholders and residents in Gwagwalada town, Gwagwalada Area Council of the territory. He said the time was up for kidnappers and their informants, vowing to go after them.
Speaking in pidgin, Wike said: “The president has asked me to come here today. The other day I was in Bwari and next week I will go to Kwali.
“Security is one thing the president promised Nigerians because his job is to protect lives and property. If we can’t protect lives and property, then we have no reason being in government.
“The president has asked me to assure you that he will not abandon you. So, all these criminals, be ready. Your time is up. You know if I say I will do something, I will do it. And now that I am here today, if you know you are an informant or even one of the criminals, the end has come for you. The security agencies and I will follow you to the point that you won’t enter Gwagwalada again.
“Some of the people giving them information, we have arrested them. If they haven’t arrested you, it doesn’t mean that we won’t arrest you tomorrow or even before we leave this place.”
Responding to requests for more police divisions in the council, the minister told the representative of the Police Commissioner to work out the modalities.
He said: “The CP should work out how we can provide two more police divisions in Gwagwalada. We must do this immediately. It is a security matter and must not be bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks.
“The president has given me power to buy more vehicles. By next week, we shall give more vehicles to all police stations. We shall give them modern communication gadgets. The president has said he does not want to hear any story of kidnapping in Abuja again and the security agencies have promised to rise to the occasion. We are very serious. We are not playing. But we need your support too because security agencies cannot do this work alone. They need information. When you give them information, they will work better.” He again reiterated his earlier advice to residents to stop crowd-funding for ransom, saying such action only serves to fuel more kidnapping.
He said: “It is not also good to go to the radio to raise ransoms. It is a way of encouraging criminals. We know it is not easy when your people are in captivity but we have to avoid raising ransom. It fuels the activities of kidnappers.” Earlier, Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri had said the council had not suffered much attacks since last year, but requested more police divisions.
He said: “From January last year to December, we here in Gwagwalada we didn’t have much issues of kidnapping. We used to have before but with the synergy among stakeholders, it was reduced.
“We have some undeveloped structures and I will write to your office for approval because that is where criminals hibernate. I will write to you for approval so that we can clear all those structures.
“We also need more police divisions in the council because we only have two now.”