Inhabitants decry abductions, killings
Why traditional ruler may go to jail
Police keep mum
We’re committed to safety of lives, property –Minister
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
Residents of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have expressed concern over the increasing wave of insecurity in the area of recent.
Popularly known as the FCT, Abuja is the nation’s seat of power as it houses the President, the Vice President, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, captains of industries, politicians, diplomatic corps, top religious leaders, and top brass of security agencies.
Reports of either abduction or gruesome killing in the territory, especially in adjoining towns and villages in the past months, have been on steady increase and in disconcerting proportion.
These horrible situations have been going on for a long time, but the powers that be have suppressed them by refusing to make public pronouncements that will attract media attention and panic in the society.
However, residents are no longer finding the efforts by authorities to cast the FCT as completely insulated from the ravaging activities of kidnappers and bandits any funny.
The menace, some residents who spoke to The Point insist, is becoming unbearable. They are worried that the rate and pace at which some of these attacks occur and the victims involved make them feel exposed and vulnerable to similar fate and therefore has raised their level of anxiety.
Upsurge in kidnappings
Kidnappings have become routine activities in the outskirts of the city which the government refers to as satellite towns. They are Bwari, Dutse, Kubwa, Karishi, Orozo, Gwagwalada, Abaji, Kwali, Kuje, Pegi, Mpape, Kurudu and Jikwoyi.
The city centre is not spared either. Horrible news have filtered from places like Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse and Jabi, of either Kidnappings or foiled kidnappings, murder, attacks aimed at killing the victims but who by God’s providence often escaped but not without injuries.
Some months back, a staff of Nigeria Football Federation and his son were abducted in the Bwari area and demand for ransom was made. Few weeks ago, the wife of a pastor and her daughter were abducted in Pegi and a demand of N50 million ransom was placed on their heads. They are still in the kidnappers’ den.
Abaji, a neighbouring town with Kogi State, is considered a haven for the kidnappers and bandits. Kidnapping has been happening in the area for almost two years and above. The residents have cried out for help but relief has thus far failed to come their way.
In June, a team of Christian workers on missionary work in that area escaped being kidnapped by whiskers.
Narrating the ordeals, an elder of the church (names withheld for security reasons), told The Point, “It was God that prevented our kidnapping.
“The pastor, who strongly pleaded anonymity for security reasons, revealed to The Point that residents were leaving Abaji en masse, adding that the rate at which banditry and kidnappings were happening in Abaji was a sign that FCT might soon fall to banditry and terrorism
“
“We, I mean my wife, a neighbour and some members of our church I took to Abaji for our yearly mission work came face to face with kidnappers. We checked into a hotel after doing some work but to our greatest surprise, some minutes to midnight, we began to hear sound of gunshots around the hotel. They were bandits.
“It was like a joke but the kidnappers were so close to the hotel but for the timely intervention of the military that responded promptly all of us would have been in the kidnappers’ enclaves, maybe till now because I don’t know where the millions they will demand for would have come from. God saved us but they kidnapped one woman we later heard was a wife of a physically challenged man. It’s that bad in the FCT. We are living in self-denials here. FCT is not safe at all,” he said.
Why traditional ruler may go to jail
A pastor living in Abaji also confided in The Point, that the menace of insecurity, particularly kidnapping has wrecked Abaji. He disclosed that accusing fingers have been pointing at the traditional ruler and his household who have been kept under house arrest by the government to carry out investigations because they are suspected of working with the bandits.
The pastor wants the traditional ruler prosecuted and jailed.
The clergyman said nobody leaves his/her house once it is 7:00pm in the area and if there was a need to do so, such a person should not consider returning home but spend the night wherever he/she had gone to.
“The story of banditry and kidnappings in Abaji here is true. We cannot sleep with our eyes closed. Every other night we hear sounds of gunshots sporadically. We are always having our hearts in our mouths. These things are happening; the traditional ruler does not show any form of concern rather, after every operation, his sons will be displaying affluence with recklessness.
“At times when you hear what the victims say about the kidnappers on their release, you will join those accusing the traditional ruler and his children. The unfortunate thing is that they overpower the police. If the army does not come in fast, they will take away their victims.”
Residents flee troubled areas
The pastor, who strongly pleaded anonymity for security reasons, revealed to The Point that residents are leaving Abaji en masse, and stated that the rate at which banditry and kidnappings are happening in Abaji is a sign that FCT may soon fall to banditry and terrorism.
Besides Abaji, reports of pockets of banditry attacks on the residents of Kwali and Gwagwalada are becoming daily occurrences. Parents are scared about their children safety both in school and out of school.
The spread of insecurity in the FCT is burning like a wildfire. Kuje and its environs are in the thick of it. Precisely, Pegi, a government settlement area mapped out to commemorate 30 years of the creation of Abuja is now a nightmare.
Speaking with The Point, some residents of Pegi claimed that life has been horrible in the area with incessant banditry attacks and kidnappings.
“The spread of insecurity in the FCT is burning like a wildfire. Kuje and its environs are in the thick of it. Precisely, Pegi, a government settlement area, mapped out to commemorate 30 years of the creation of Abuja, is now a nightmare
“
A senior citizen who gave his name as Osa, said he has lived in the same vicinity for more than nine years. He said the environment was peaceful until recent when the place now brims with bandits, kidnappers and other criminals that have turned the whole place to a haven of insecurity.
“What is happening in Pegi is terrible. These bandits are here. We don’t sleep again. Going to our farms now is like surrendering to them. They have been kidnapping people here and demanding for ransom.
“Recently, they kidnapped a pastor’s wife and her daughter and demanded N50 million as ransom. It is like they have insiders in this community. Those who have been discussing with them said the bandits told them that since the husband is a pastor, he should go to his church and raise the money. You see, how did they know the husband is a pastor?,” he wondered.
Corroborating, another resident, Kelechi, said “Pegi in particular and the entire FCT are no longer safe. These bandits are here waiting to overrun the territory. They have been carrying out their illicit acts uninterrupted, soonest they will be striking from every part of the territory.
“I don’t stay in the city centre beyond six o’clock in the evening. Even driving home late at night is a suicidal attempt because the airport road linking Kuje before you access Pegi is terrible.
“There are some villages around Pegi occupied by mostly herdsmen and at night they come out in their numbers and block the roads, but when they hear the army is patrolling, they will disperse into their hideouts. It is very terrible,” he lamented.
FCT exposed to security danger
Major roads leading to the FCT have been tagged death traps from neighbouring states. From the Lokoja axis where Abaji and other high risk areas are located to the Kaduna/Minna axis where kidnappings and killings are daily routine to the Keffi, Nasarawa axis, the FCT is exposed to great security danger.
Recently, the army check point at Kugbo hill along FCT/Nasarawa road intercepted an ambulance load of live ammunitions and some boys suspected to be terrorists heading to Abuja.
Prior to the interception, a pastor was murdered in his church in Jikwoyi around the same axis when he was preparing for a vigil.
Tuesday last week, a traditional ruler, Emir of Bungudu, Zamfara State, Hassan Atto, was abducted along Kaduna Abuja highway by bandits who also killed a police officer, two others were injured, and four vehicles recovered but the number of abducted person was yet to be ascertained.
The FCT Police Command has often published flash points in the city centre of Abuja, warning residence to avoid such places at particular times. This is a strong indication that the insecurity rate in the territory is alarming.
There are areas that motorists are taking risks driving on such roads. Many have been killed; those who escaped had their vehicles vandalized with attendant injuries sustained.
ccording to a human rights lawyer, Ezra Enwerem, the insecurity menace is fast eating deep into the fabrics of Abuja.
He said, “Security wise, the situation is very volatile. Even though the FCT appeared to be calm, it has been affected by the insecurity happenings in the country generally which can be traced to failure of security architecture in the area. So, the fact is that these bandits have been able to infiltrate the territory. As I speak to you now, I am aware of instances of abductions in Kubwa, a satellite town in the FCT and I am also aware that there are some hideouts of these terrorists in some areas in Kubwa even with the military barracks located there as I was told.”
Enwerem believed the security situation in the FCT is getting out of hands because the incessant abductions and killings that made it difficult for both the residents and visitors to the nation’s capital to feel at ease.
“The situation is a bit challenging and the problem is that the security agencies are not coming clean on this security issues in the country and I believe more needs to be done. Some sanity needs to be brought in to the security system. Some of these security personnel that are in charge of the security architecture of the country are not doing enough. There is need to revamp the nation’s security now that the capital city appears threatened. If it should take some people being relieved of their duty it should be done with express dispatch because the way it is going, on a broad day light, abductions will occur in the city centre,” Enwerem cried out.
He expressed fears that the trend of this insecurity would appears as though these bandits or terrorists have links with some of the security officials.
“The way things are going, FCT, the seat of power where the President, his Vice, National Assembly members, members of the diplomatic corps and captains of industries and top judicial officers are residing will collapse to the power of these bandits, God forbids.
Something serious and more meaningful needs to be done to safeguard the territory. It appears that this insecurity has some connections or nexus with some of these security agents because the way they operate, it would appears they have more intelligence than our security personnel themselves. And that leaves so much to be desired. Generally speaking, it is not in doubt that the FCT, especially the adjoining villages and towns have been infiltrated by these terrorists,” he added.
The human rights lawyer argued that the only place that seems safe in the FCT is the Aso Rock Villa and probably the military and police barracks, pointing out that because they have presence of military hardware, “but aside these locations, no individual like us, on the streets of Abuja can say we are safe.”
Few months back, the governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, warned that the terrorists were two kilometers away from the FCT. But his warning was dismissed with a wave of the hands. He said the level of banditry in his state can be akin to a war situation.
During a random assessment of the matter, The Point gathered from the FCT residents that people are only living and expecting the worst to happen.
At the federal secretariat complex, in the heart of the city, some staff of the federal ministries and parastatals, said each day they are in the high rising complexes, they have their hearts in their hands because of the news of attempted abductions that the presence of heavy security men foiled.
Traders in the ever busy and densely populated Wuse market are also operating in fears.
A trader who identified himself as Abdullahi said, “These bandits are here in Abuja. It is like they are waiting for an instruction from their leaders to strike. Our soldiers and police know them but they are not doing anything about it. See kidnappings all over Abuja. They are here.”
The story is not different at both the new market and Garki market. The same fears that the bandits are already in the FCT is very high. No trader opted to speak on the matter; rather they chorused the answer to every question posed as they suspected everyone.
Police keep mum
Efforts to get the police speak on the matter proved abortive as The Point’s several visits to both the Force Headquarters and FCT Command headquarters were unsuccessful.
The Point visited the Louis Edet House Force headquarters in Abuja in attempts to speak with the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, but our correspondent was referred to the FCT Command by the officers at the entrance who said the appropriate quarters for our confirmation was the FCT Command.
“The administration is working very closely with all the security agencies through the FCT Security Committee to tackle all forms of crimes and criminality and is providing them with logistics and other forms of support
“
However, frantic efforts to speak with the FCT Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, also proved abortive, as her second-in-command said we needed to be accredited with the Command.
He requested for an official letter introducing the paper and its correspondent covering the beat. On fulfilling the requirements, the PRO was said not to be available for comments as at press time.
We’re committed to security of lives and property – Minister
When contacted, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, Garba Sheu, played the Pontius Pilate by washing his hands off the matter.
He simply said “Sorry, this is not the FCT Minister. My name is Garba Shehu.”
However, the minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, reassured the residents of his administration’s commitment to safety of lives and properties.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Anthony Ogunleye, the minister told The Point that “The FCTA is fully committed to ensuring the safety of lives and property of all residents of the FCT.
“The administration is working very closely with all the security agencies through the FCT Security Committee to tackle all forms of crimes and criminality and is providing them with logistics and other forms of support.
“It is important to mention that the ongoing removal of illegal structures is also to rid those locations of criminal elements,” he noted.
