Again, gunmen attack Abuja community, kidnap 13, demand N900m ransom

By Stanley Onyekwere

For the upteenth time, some suspected gunmen have invaded Piko, a remote community in Bwari Area Council of Abuja, and allegedly kidnapped thirteen (13) persons.
It was gathered that the deadly attack, which occurred midnight of last Sunday in the community, lasted for over one hour, without any intervention from either the vigilance group or other security agencies.
However, confirming the latest alleged gunmen invasion in the nation’s capital city, Madaki of the community, Chief John Jatau revealed that 10 residents were kidnapped from his domain, including 4 nomadic Fulani herdsmen, according to a source close to the community.
The source added that out of the four Fulani people, one escaped from the kidnappers custody.
He said: “The kidnapping incident occurred last night being Sunday 05/05/2024, at about 11 pm. The kidnappers raided the village for about one hour without any response , reaction from the community or outsiders, the major challenge the community faced last night in terms of communication to others was as a result of no telecommunication network in the village, so they picked people house to house. So, from the community they picked about 13 peoples, and later release three.
“The Madaki Piko, he informed me that they have called and they said they need the Ramson of 900,000,000 (nine hundred millions). They picked about four Fulani people and one of them is released.
“The following people were kidnapped from his community and are still with their abductors, Nuhu Anyiwoyi, Emmanuel Nuhu, Danjuma Ali, Parisa Numa, Ezekiel Jatau, Shekwosa Ezekiel, Roseline Samuel, Salome Jacob, Abyelo Ezra, and Ezra Male.”
Meanwhile, the FCT Police Command Public Relations officer, Josephine Adeh, who was contacted through a WhatsApp message for reaction, neither confirmed nor refuted the kidnap incident.