· Intensifies clearance operations
By Sarah NEGEDU
The relative peace being experienced in the Federal Capital Territory may be attributed to the ongoing clearance operations carried out by security operatives in the territory.
Between December 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, FCT recorded an unprecedented cases of kidnap for ransom and terror attacks, particularly along border communities in Bwari, Kuje, Abaji and Kwali area councils.
An analysis of news reports of the various kidnapping reported during the period, indicates that over 180 persons were kidnapped in the FCT between January and August 2024. Most of the victims were abducted from their homes by suspected terrorists.
Security authorities attributed this to incursions by bandits fleeing heavy military interventions in the North East region.
However, the FCT Police Commissioner, Olatunji Disu, at the end of the FCT Security Committee meeting, said a joint task force comprising the military, Civil Defence, and the police was currently conducting clearance operations in border communities to the FCT to proactively address potential incursions by bandits seeking to move across state lines.
The success of these operations, he said, has contributed significantly to the peace observed over the past weeks.
“At the same time, the minister was briefed about the clearance operation going on in all areas of our neighboring states bordering the Federal Capital Territory.
“The military, the civil defense, and the police have been embarking on a lot of clearance, having noticed that these bandits are about to be moving towards the Federal Capital Territory.
“This clearance operation has been going on and it has been very, very successful. It has been contributing to the peace you have been noticing for the past one or two weeks.”
He also added that security operatives in the FCT have resolved to collaborate more closely with their counterparts in states contiguous to the FCT, to ensure a unified strategy for policing the region and prevent the displacement of criminal activities from one state to another.
“We finally decided that we are going to involve security operatives and other states bordering the Federal Capital Territory in joint meetings, joint collaboration, and joint operations, so that we can jointly have a outlook on how to police our various states.
“We do not want incidents of a particular state embarking on this clearance operation and the insurgents will be moving towards other areas of the nation.
“And then at the end of the day, it has been concluded that the activities of the task force comprising of all the six agencies will continue.
“Different tasks have been given to them and we are looking forward to this collaboration which has been very successful,” he added.
Director of Security Service Department of the FCTA, Adamu Gwary, told the media in December 2024, that the territory had recorded a decline in the incidents of kidnappings and other crimes
While pointing that kidnapping was one of the major security concern for the administration in 2023.
The director stated then, “Today, we can beat our chest to say that the number of reported cases of kidnappings have significantly dropped. Before now, you can hardly go a week without having a reported case of kidnapping.
“Now, when we check our statistics, you will notice that sometimes a whole month will go by without any incident.”
