Insecurity: Protect us against kidnappers, Bwari residents appeal to Wike

Residents of Bwari, the headquarters of the Bwari Area Council, have appealed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to ensure that the area does not return to its past when kidnappers operated freely both at night and daytime. A cross-section of the residents spoke while reacting to the Monday morning attack on Chikakore, a community […]

Residents of Bwari, the headquarters of the Bwari Area Council, have appealed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to ensure that the area does not return to its past when kidnappers operated freely both at night and daytime.

A cross-section of the residents spoke while reacting to the Monday morning attack on Chikakore, a community in Kubwa within the area council.

The residents recalled the terrifying lives they lived when the kidnappers were unleashing terror in the area council.

Abuja Metro reports that Bwari is one of the worst hit in terms of kidnapping in the territory.

• Nursing Council tasks foreign-trained graduates on quality care, ethics
• ‘We lost 11 family members in Enugu tanker explosion’

Many residents of the area, especially farmers were kidnapped with huge amounts of money demanded as ransom.

Our correspondent reports that the bandits almost took over the town when they crept into the Sabon-Gari area, which is less than a kilometer from the council’s secretariat.

During the attack, one person was killed and two others were kidnapped.

Areas like Zuma, Barangoni, Tudun Fulani and Kuduru also recorded a number of attacks during the period.

According to a community leader in the area, Mr Samson Joseph, things started improving after the FCT minister held a town hall meeting with relevant stakeholders in the area.

‘’We started sleeping peacefully in the night. But before then, we could not. Gunshots every night even in the afternoon, you dare not go to your farm which is more than a kilometer away from the town.  The situation was terrible,’’ he said.

Samson appealed to security agents to justify the confidence the minister had in them by redoubling their efforts and ensuring that the area does not return to the old order.

Mrs Khadijat Musa, a civil servant residing in Sabon-Gari area of Bwari told Abuja Metro that when the news of the attack in Chikakore broke out on Monday, fear gripped many residents because of their past experiences.

‘’We know this problem cannot be solved completely at once but we are pleading with the minister and the security agents to intensify patrols, and intelligence gathering, especially around the prone areas like Piwoyi-Tudun-Fulani axis as well as the Kuchiko Bwari-Law School area,’’ she said.

The FCT police command, while reacting to the attack in Chikakore, assured residents of their safety, promising to comb all the areas being used as hideouts by bandits.

A statement by the command’s public relations officer, Josephine Adeh, a superintendent, urged residents to be calm but vigilant in their respective environments.

The command also enjoined residents to reach out through 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883 in case of any emergency.

The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had during the last security meeting with heads of security agencies in the territory, warned that the administration would not tolerate any lapses in the area of security, which, he said, was the first responsibility of any government.