Locals in Kubwa, Bwari region Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who live in the Kuchibuyi village, have expressed their anger at the persistent attacks in the region by some suspected kidnappers.
According to several people, there were around three kidnapping attacks in 2023, but two of the attacks were stopped by the vigilante organization.
Our correspondent was informed on Sunday that there had been a kidnapping instance in the community around two weeks prior.
Abu, the victim, was reportedly kidnapped from his local house and freed two days later after providing a sum of money as ransom.
Many inhabitants had fled to safer locations and abandoned their properties as a result of the attacks, according to a local only known as Timmy.
“This community has seen a number of kidnapping attacks since 2019,” Timmy stated. These attacks claimed me as one of their victims. About eight alleged kidnappers, fully equipped with Ak47s, broke into this neighborhood at night in June. Out of nearly nine of these attacks on the community, I was the only one who didn’t succeed.
“My buddy was abducted around two weeks ago, and she was only set free a few days later after paying a ransom. My friend is practically paralyzed from the incident. As I speak with you, he is unable to move.
“Another resident said to be named Austin, who was a victim in November, died about a few weeks after these people collected about N11 million as ransom. There was another resident called Wale, a first-class graduate who was killed in October. One chief in the community was also kidnapped.”
Timmy regretted that despite the vigilantes in the community, its security remained the same despite the kidnappers’ constant attacks.
The secretary to the community, Yusuf Alkali, made a plea to the government to assist it in achieving its goal by setting up a security station and providing a patrol van.
Alkali said, “This has been a very big security challenge in the community. We want the government to come to our aid and provide security men who can support our vigilante men to help us at least tackle these kidnappers. We will also want the government to help us establish a police outpost in the community. There is no security to succeed without proper mobility.
“If we can have a government with at least a security patrol vehicle or motorcycle that can help our men patrol the community at night, we will be happy. If the government can help us with this, we will be happy. We are not asking for money. All we need are these things we have mentioned.”
Corroborating, the commandant of Kuchibuyi vigilante group, Suleiman Ahmed, said even though the security group was trying its best, the community needed the government’s support to put an end to kidnapping incidents in the area.
“The community is helping us,” Ahmed remarked. They assist in establishing the vigilante organization and cover the cost of security. But we can’t accomplish it by ourselves. The government must assist us. We had the vigilante folks when the first event occurred, but they weren’t as effective then as they are now. However, following the initial assault, we had to further organize them by making sure that every household made a financial contribution to help them.
When her cell phone rang on Sunday, FCT police spokesperson Josephine Adeh was not answering calls, thus attempts to reach her for comment at the time this article was filed were unsuccessful.
