From Sola Ojo, Abuja
Around 2:00am on Thursday, August 8, 2024, armed robbers in their number in a commando style stormed Phase 4, by Gurudu Community Primary School, Nyanya, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), broke into houses and dispossessed residents of their valuables.
During the incident, many people were stabbed including a private security guard, an indigene of Kaduna State. He later died because he lost much blood before being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Again, on Sunday, August 11, 2024, at about the same hour, the ravaging armed robbers launched a coordinated attack on the residents of Kabayi by Mopol Field towards the small market, in neighbouring Karu Local Government, Nasarawa State and went away with their loots.
Unlike in Phase 4 Nyanya where the swift intervention of the Nigeria Police patrol team limited the operation of the underworld men to a few houses, at Kabayi, more than 20 houses were robbed unchallenged, according to a female survivor who also lost her mobile phones, a laptop computer and other personal belongings to her August visitors at gunpoint.
The development sent a palpable fear into the nerves of the affected communities and their neighbours following the suspicion that their attackers are new in the area and are likely camping around the massive Nyanya hills.
Due to the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in Niger, Zamfara and Kaduna states, the remnants of these criminals were suspected to have relocated to other areas including the FCT suburbs like Nyanya.
A survivor (name withheld), confided in DailySun: “As we went to report the incident at the police station the following morning, we met some residents of Aso, a neighbouring community who also came to report their case of armed robbery on the same night.
“From the looks of things, these people are many and they don’t mean well for the residents of the affected communities. Before, what I ever heard were isolated robbery cases. These people were speaking a special Hausa language as they attacked houses.
“I have lost sleep ever since the incident at Kabayi even though I have left the place. I’m now looking for someone to take up my apartment because I only moved in June this year.
“Though I lived at Kabayi, myself and the majority of residents there are Abuja workers. I’m working in the Abuja central area. But due to abysmally high rent, I moved to this area hoping to save some money. As it is, the area is in for bad times if the concerned authority fails to look into the development and take urgent decisive action.”
Chairman, Neighborhood Security Committee, Phase 4, Nyanya, Mr. Leo Amadi, said: We have come up with proven tactics and strategies including working closely with the conventional security agencies to secure their environment.
“We are working with the police because the DPO and his men at Nyanya Police Division were very proactive when these criminals attacked our community around 2 a.m. on Thursday, August 8, 2024.
“The armed robbers came in large number with the intention to rob from one house to another. They started at two endpoints to muster the operation at the centre of the street. Fortunately we were able to send a Save Our Souls message to the DPO that night and he led about 17 policemen and dislodged the criminals with teargas within a few minutes.
“Two days later, the community came together to review what happened with the security men including the DPO in attendance to provide security guidance. Before those people came to rob at Phase 4, it happened in different nearby communities including Nyanya and Mararaba.
“These people are moving in groups and from their ascent, we know they are from a particular part of the country known for banditry. As a community, we are putting some strategies and tactics in place which I will not want to disclose because we know these people are also following the media reports.
“Gurudu is a multi-street community and we are happy all of us are cooperating to be ahead of the criminal elements and their collaborators. Unfortunately, they stabbed one person who is a private security man to death in one of the houses attacked that night.
“We have since buried him in Kaduna. We have never experienced the magnitude of such a robbery before. What we had before was not this much. We are not sure of where they are coming from, but some people are suspecting the reliefs of the mountains around us.
“The security intelligence also told us that the people attacking communities in this axis are not far from us. So, we are keeping our eyes wide open as local intel to send these criminal elements away within our community if uncovered.”
Efforts to get input from the Federal Capital Territory Police Command were unsuccessful. Its Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Josephine Adeh did not respond to SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to her mobile line days before filing this report.
The message sent to her phone read: “Pls, I’m doing a report on the alleged infiltration of bandits around Nyanya hills area of FCT and recurring armed robbery incidents between Nyanya and immediate neighborhood Nasarawa State. What is FCT Police doing to douse the rising fear in this axis?”
But a senior police officer who spoke in confidence, because he was not authorised to speak to the press could not dismiss the position of the locales on their suspicion of infiltration of the area by suspected bandits but was quick too explain the efforts put in place by the divisional police in the area:
“We understand the fear of the people in the area that the criminal elements were possibly dislodged from Zamfara and part of Kaduna and Niger states where military operations are being sustained in recent times with tangible successes.
“However, we are yet to establish that claim. It may interest you to know that the man heading Nyanya Police Division is a respected crime neutraliser, a professional who has been training the men of the Division in terms of crime prevention and timely response to distress calls.
“Look at how his men were provoked during the recent violent protest in the area without killing anyone in self-defense.
“I’m aware that the police have conducted search operations on about five suspected caves around Nyanya, Dadi community up to Mpape towards Kaduna Road which I knew would be sustained.
“Though I’m not authorised to speak to you, police around Nyanya are proactive and they respond to distress calls within minutes.
“That command has motorcycles for patrol which is a good initiative. For example, in the recent robbery at Phase 4 you mentioned, our men arrived at the scene in just about five minutes. If not, the criminals would have robbed all the houses. And you know, when the criminals face resistance, they will think twice before coming back.
“I want to appeal to our people at the community level to support our men, give them good and credible intelligence about the whereabouts of these criminals. They should also be vigilant because criminals hardly plan coordinated robbery without informants within or close by.”