• Monarch, residents of FCT communities bemoan incessant kidnapping, killings
• Unease in Abuja as kidnappers invade Bwari Communities
By Abubakar Yakubu
Palpable fear has gripped residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as kidnappers are making more daring incursions into the hinterlands and abducting people on a regular basis.
•Esu of Ushafa, Alhaji Muhammed Baba Kwange
Some of the residents have pointed fingers at serving and former security personnel as being complicit in the booming kidnapping-for-ransom which has turned bloody in recent days.
In Bwari Area Council of the FCT, kidnappers are having a field day ravaging and kidnapping people from communities, which the octogenarian traditional ruler of Ushafa, Esu/ Hakim Muhammed Baba Kwange, described the situation as very strange.
• Girls Seconday School opposite Sagwari Estate that was invaded by kidnappers
He told our reporter during a chat at his palace that right from his growing up stages until he was crowned king of the community, such incidents were unheard of, adding that nobody knows the kidnappers, who invade houses and take their victims inside the bush, where they place phone calls to the their relatives ordering them to pay ransoms and such money are paid as if animals are traded.
•Entrance to Sagwari Layout Estate, where 10 persons were kidnapped
He said Ushafa community witnessed such an incident last year when worshippers of a church were returning home in the morning after vigil. According to him, some of the worshippers noticed strange people stationed on their pathway and took to their heels but unfortunately, a girl was abducted and taken into the bush. According to him, community leaders with the support of vigilantes and military personnel mobilised and went after the captives in the bush.
“The girl was rescued with another victim from the kidnapper’s den,” he said.
Esu Kwange disclosed further that landlords have been directed to take comprehensive data of their tenants and praised the efforts of a joint taskforce that has been going around the community to ensure people are safe. He appealed to the Federal Government to assist the community in equipping members of the vigilante squad with sophisticated weapons to combat criminals.
Some residents told Saturday Sun that Whatsapp messages have been flying around that gunmen were sighted by farmers behind Government School in Ushafa.
The message, which was shown to the reporter, reads: “Please and please, from information reaching us, behind Government School Ushafa, gunmen are in the bush for one week now and farmers returning from farm saw them position in the bush today. As I write, they may attack Ushafa community, so please raise alarm because they were spotted on the mountain leading to Zuma, which was attacked days back. We are helpless; please help us to call on the military and Nigerians. Help to broadcast this message until they come to our aid. May God continue to Guild (sic) each and every one of us”.
A resident, Malik Usman, said he has relocated his family to Jikwoyi in the Federal Capital Territory to ensure their safety.
He said the savage attitude of the kidnappers is what prompted his decision, adding that he only stays inside his house during the daytime to keep it safe and spends the evening hours with his family at Jikwoyi.
Abdulrasaq Ibrahim, another resident, said he no longer returns home late from work. “I work in a five-star hotel in Abuja City Centre and sometimes close at 9 pm. Before kidnappers invaded Bwari, I normally return home at 11 pm but now I dare not as I sleep over at my working place and return in the morning,” he said.
Saturday Sun also learnt that landlords at Bwari main town were also circulating Whatsapp messages calling for vigilance. One of such messages reads: “It is time for us to keep more vigilance at night, particularly as the issues of kidnapping are no longer news to all of us. Many communities around Bwari have been invaded. Recently, it was Kuduru, few days ago it was Garam and some communities around, while Barangon and Tokulo were invaded consecutively. There is need for us to keep our eyes and ears always open every night and henceforth let’s learn to detect new faces because they can mingle with us in the day and achieve their goals at Night.”.
Dutse Makaranta is the community where kidnappers invaded Sagwari Layout Estate and kidnapped 10 residents on Sunday January 7 at 7.30pm. A resident of the community, who pleaded anonymity, said that the kidnappers invaded the community from the mountain located behind the estate.
Our reporter observed three military trucks with armed soldiers entering the place last Saturday at about 2pm and they drove straight behind the estate to access the routes passed by the invaders.
Efforts to speak to some of the estate leaders or parents of the victims were abortive as the chairman was not around. He told the reporter by phone that he was running around and couldn’t give an exact time that he would be back home.
The chief security officer also declined to make comments and told the estate security men to direct newsmen to the chairman. Our reporter who stayed behind in the community from 10am till 6:30pm observed that there was no police presence in the area. He also noticed that a female boarding school, Government Girls Secondary School, is located nearly opposite the gate of Sagwari Layout Estate.
A resident of the community, Mathew Obi, said after the abduction at the estate, residents around the place are scared to socialize at night. He said some unscrupulous people have capitalized on the unfortunate incident by going to homes around the area to solicit for funds to pay the kidnappers so that the victims can be released.
“If actually there was any fund raising, messages would have been relayed to us through the whatsapp group,” he noted.
Shaagee Okula, another resident, said he wasn’t aware of the incident until he read about it in the newspaper the following morning.
He said residents of the area are very apprehensive and lamented further that there is no police post located to oversee Dutse Makaranta, Dutse Baupma, Jabu, Mboko and Obasanjo Road.
“When you see strange suspicious faces, there is absolutely no security post in the area to report to except you go the Bwari Township or Dutse-Alhaji,” he said.
Okula revealed that in the past, there used to be a police post in the area but the post was destroyed during the ‘End SARS’ protest of 2020.
He said vigilantes holding sticks and hunting guns are normally seen patrolling the community as from 9 pm.
Saturday Sun was informed by another resident on Monday that while efforts were underway by victims’ family members at Sagwari Layout to raise funds to free the 10 victims, news filtered into the community that four corpses were dumped by the kidnappers at Idah Junction, along Bwari- Jere road at Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna. Among the corpses was that of 13 year-old secondary school student, Folorunsho Ariyo, and another resident. The resident said Miss Ariyo was abducted along with her mother and three siblings from the estate and their abductors had asked for N60 million but the family could only raise N5 million and pleaded for time.
Also among the dead was Nabeeha Al-Kadriyat, a 400-level Biological Science undergraduate of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, who was abducted alongside her father and five sisters from their home at Zuma 1 community, near Bwari Town penultimate Tuesday night. Their father was however released and ordered to pay N60 million ransom.
At Kawu, another community where 23 persons were abducted, our reporter learnt that four of the victims were released by the kidnappers to inform the community leaders to raise N20 million as ransom for the release of other captives.
The kidnap incident was said to have occurred penultimate Wednesday. Briefing the press of the development, the area’s councillor, Abdulmumini Zakari, disclosed that the gunmen invaded the community from the Kuyeri Forest in Kaduna State.
“They divided themselves into groups and some went into the palace of the district head, Abdurrahman Ali, where they abducted his son, Lukman, and his wife, whom he married two weeks ago,” he added.
Other indigenes of the community abducted include of Alhassan Kawu, the Marafa of Kawu, a former PDP Chairman of Kawu Ward, who was abducted with four children and the Sarkin Pawan Kawu, Gambo Pawa with his two wives and children.
The kidnappers again struck at Kwaku, another community on Wednesday January 10 at 11 pm and abducted a couple who got married few weeks ago, a female nurse and nine others in the area.
A resident who said the abductees also included four house wives, noted that the kidnappers came from neighbouring Kaduna village
The traditional ruler of the place, Sarkin Samari of Kawu, lamented that 14 residents were abducted after the community’s vigilante members were overpowered and one injured after a gun duel
Other communities invaded between Christmas period up till early this year include Garam village, where one person was killed and three abducted; Barangoni community, where three were also abducted and Tokulo village, where three persons were injured with two abducted.
Some residents of Bwari communities who are members of the intelligence services advised chairmen of housing estates and community leaders to always visit the Bwari Divisional Police Station and the military formations in the area to forge greater ties as well as exchanging phone numbers.
They called for the proper maintenances of the local vigilante and the restriction of scavengers popularly called ‘Mai Bola” from the area. Other directives were the restriction of the operations of commercial cyclists from 10 pm to 6 am daily and for people to be vigilant in order to apprehend the abductor’s informants.
A retired intelligence officer, who pleaded anonymity, advised the customs leadership to release the recently confiscated military drones seized at one of the nation’s airports to the military. “For God sake, this is the 21st Century and what I expect is to see drones and military planes flying over the mountains in Bwari to dislodge the invaders,” he advised.
Another lady who was abducted by kidnappers a few years ago and was released after her family paid a N5 million ransom, told Saturday Sun that during her incarceration inside a thick forest with other captives, the leader of the group while addressing them said that some military and police personnel were also benefiting from the ransom money paid to them.
“I think it is high time the military and police force undertook thorough investigations of their personnel who were dismissed from service. The BVN system in banks can be used to track their accounts to monitor what they have there,” she said.
At Kuduru , a resident said the community engages the service of local vigilante and provide funds to the police monthly to station their men every night in the community.
The FCT Commissioner for Public Complaints, Dalhatu Ezekiel has asked the Federal Government to prioritize the area’s security situation and declare a state of emergency in the FCT.
While responding to the rampant kidnapping cases at Bwari Area Council, the FCT Police Command, through a statement by its spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, stated that there were pockets of abduction of persons’ cases with the figure being exaggerated by mischievous persons to create fear and apprehension among residents.
“The Commissioner of Police, FCT in a continued effort to enhance the security of the residents and prevention of pockets of abduction, on the 3rd January 2024, visited communities in Bwari. During these visits, he engaged with community leaders, assessed security situation/ arrangements, and took proactive measures by deploying additional police personnel and armoured police vehicle with effort in place to extend same to other communities in the FCT. Despite these efforts, concerns have been raised about perceived inactivity,” the statement added.
She stated further that the FCT Police Commissioner, Haruna Garba, has urged residents to exercise restraint in sharing potentially misleading or mischievous posts and reiterated his commitment to wiping out all forms of criminality in the FCT.
“He equally urges the populace to keep up rendition of distress call and report suspicious activities through the following emergency lines: 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883,” the statement concluded.
Also the Force Police Spokesman, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said in the wake of the abduction of six young girls in Bwari Area Council, the police have already initiated a comprehensive plan of action. He disclosed further that the force headquarters was diligently coordinating efforts to address the situation and prevent further occurrences, adding that all hands are on the deck to rescue the victims.
Meanwhile emergency security numbers have been given in Abuja and that for Bwari and its environs include: Sector 3 Combined JTF led by Major A. Obolo (08110987414) and SC. J.T. Nyitse (08022060062).