The nation’s capital have in the past weeks recorded an unprecedented increase in activities of kidnappers, with attacks on the fringes of Bwari Area Council leading to the murder of four victims and the abduction of several others.
The kidnapping and eventual murder of 400 level student of ABU, Zaria, Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, and 13 years old Folashade Ariyo, along with two other victims, sent shock waves around the country, with many calling for an immediate end to the ugly trend.
Between December 2023 and January this year, about 90 persons were said to have been abducted from their homes in Bwari Area Council and its neighbouring communities.
Gunmen struck Dei-Dei community in Bwari area council on December 9, when 23 victims were forced out of their homes.
Later on December 24, 2023, another 25 persons were kidnapped from Bwari, where three of the victims lost their lives in the attacks.
Suspected bandits had earlier invaded neighbouring Garam community on 23rd December 2023 where they kidnapped 13 persons including a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The community located on territories of Niger state is just five-minute drive from Bwari central.
The bandits struck again, on December 28, this time at the border community of Kuduru in Bwari, which shares borders with Garam, and abducted 18 residents. The next day, the bandits attacked Ahzu, also in Bwari where they killed three people and abducted eight others.
An additional 23 persons were later abducted from the Zuma 1 area of Bwari on January 2, 2024. Among the victims was late Nabeeha Al-Kadriyah and her five sisters who later regained their freedom after nearly three weeks in the kidnappers den.
Since these reckless attacks and murder of the innocent citizens, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has convened series of town hall meetings across the six area councils of the territories where he engaged traditional rulers, vigilante groups and other stakeholders on best approach to tackling the menace of kidnapping in Abuja.
The town hall meetings kicked off on 17th January, in Bwari Area Council, where the minister disclosed that the onslaught on terrorists in the North East has made the area unfavourable for bandits and kidnappers, making them escaping to other state including the FCT.
He however assured that the FCT Administration, with the support of security agencies, will make the territory hot for criminals.
Wike ended the meeting with a caution to families of kidnap victims and well-meaning Nigerians against crowd funding for ransom, noting that such fundraising only emboldens the bandits to demand for larger sums.
Meanwhile, at the town hall meeting in Kwali on Tuesday 23 January, the minister directed the Chairmen of the six Area Councils in the territory to strengthen the local vigilance teams in their areas by ensuring that their needs are adequately met.
The minister, while disclosing that his administration has almost concluded procurement processes for more security vehicles, urged the councils to provide more motorcycles to vigilante teams to enable them access difficult terrains.
While rounding up his security tour of Area councils in Kuje, the minister admonished informants to repent or get killed.
While the security tour was necessary in restoring the people’s confidence in government. The administration must move beyond just showing up whenever a misfortune hits, to actually being seen addressing the situation.
The morale booster would be the arrest and prosecution of kidnappers and their informants. Though the police recently parade some suspected kidnappers and also announced that its men neutralised a kidnapping kingpin around the Bwari axis, such success stories will have to be more frequent to restore the people’s confidence and trust.
The security agencies should work round the clock to contain the situation and make arrests where necessary.
Thankfully, the FCT Minister has assured the security agencies of government’s support through the provision of necessary logistics and communication gadgets for their operations. Those vehicles and gadgets will however remain useless when there are no intel to deploy them to.
The police and other sister agencies should therefore priorities information gathering and sharing among themselves. They must work with local communities, particularly the traditional institutions, so as to gain the people’s trust for them to share information.
Insecurity today is a social menace, the intervention of governments and all stakeholders is therefore critical to reducing, if not totally, eradicating the menace.
