Nine of the about 20 people abducted from Dawaki community in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory FCT are still missing, families of the victims told the Daily Trust Tuesday.
But the FCT Police Command said the claims were not true, insisting that only eight people were abducted and all of them have been rescued.
Relatives and neighbours of the victims told Daily Trust during a follow up visit, that nine of the abducted victims were still missing.
This newspaper had on Tuesday reported that 20 people were abducted from around the Fulani junction in Dawaki community during a siege on Sunday.
Dawaki, located opposite the Gwarinpa District, along the Abuja-Kubwa Express Way, is home to thousands of middle- class workers, among other residents.
A resident, who craved anonymity, said when they were fleeing with their victims, they stopped at a nearby herders’ helmet on the outskirts and abducted two people.
Another resident, Hosea Christopher, said five people were able to escape while being taken out of the community, with additional five others escaping around the Usuma Dam area along the Bwari way, when the gunmen had a fierce confrontation with the operatives of the DSS.
He added that the remaining victims obeyed the gunmen by following them to their hideouts deep into the bush.
‘Some of our loved ones still in the bush’
A resident, Usman Uthman, told one of our reporters that two people abducted from their home were among the rescued persons.
“They were brought back to the community on Monday afternoon by the soldiers,” he said.
He, however, said one other person abducted from the house, a female, was still missing.
Murna Lawan, another resident, said one-person from her home, too, named Peter, was yet to return.
She said that a lady named Blessing and one Francis, who were also abducted, were yet to return.
A resident, Nura Muhammad, who escaped when being led to the bush, said there was confusion about the whereabouts of one of the abducted women.
He said, ‘’It was learnt that she was rescued, however her family have visited various security agencies with no information about her whereabouts.’’
It’s not true – CP
When contacted last night, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igweh, said it was not true that some of the abducted people were still at the kidnappers’ den.
When our reporter told him that it was families of the victims that confirmed that some of their loved ones have not yet returned, he simply said, “hold on…” and ended the call.
Our correspondents waited up till 10.15 pm waiting for an update on the development before sending this part of the story.
Earlier in the day, the police commissioner had reassured that the nation’s capital was safe and secured against kidnapping and banditry.
The CP said this during a visit to Media Trust Group Headquarters in Abuja, where he said he had taken the fight to the bandits’ camp in the bushes and mountains from where they operate.
The CP was reacting to the newspaper’s story that bandits abducted 20 in the Dawaki community in the FCT.
He said, “Abuja is now very safe, and it will continue to be safe. We have done everything possible to ensure the safety of Abuja because we know the terrains very well. We know the terrains of the bandits, and we know their modus operandi. That is why we have succeeded in making Abuja safe. We don’t care how the arm robbers and the bandits feel, but we are telling them that we are dominating everywhere including the bushes where they move. I have taken over the mountains. So that is why anywhere they enter, we must conquer them.”
Also speaking about the porous nature of the FCT neighbourhood, the CP said, “You know we have neighbors that are crime prone, from Kaduna to Niger to Nasarawa to Kogi. We are aware of our boundaries, but we are doing all it takes is to ensure the safety of everybody in Abuja, and I want to assure and inform every resident that we are on top of every situation. You can see the safety now, everything is working. I want to appreciate the effort of the IGP and the Minister of FCT. We are getting it right in Abuja, and we will continue to get it right.”
While appreciating the citizens for cooperating with them, he said, “We have been telling people, when you see something, say something. It is when you say something that we will do something. I want to thank the residence and indigenes of FCT. They have been giving us useful information and it has been useful for our successes. They’ve have started trusting the security agencies, especially the police.”
He added that, “People were complaining of one chance, they don’t ask about that any more. People were complaining about kidnappers, they don’t ask about kidnappers any more. People were complaining about bandits, but how many bandits have invaded Abuja since we took over? This is due the pro-active measures we brought in place that are bringing the safety we are seeing.”
The CP also applauded the IGP for working to bring more man power to the system, and as well as trying to bring some sophisticated gadgets for the police, which he said will help them in maintaining the tempo.
[DailyTrust]