Gunmen kidnap 13 people in Abuja community, demand N900 million ransom

Suspected gunmen have once again invaded a community in the Bwari Regional Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where thirteen people have been kidnapped.

The attack on Piko community came barely a week after a similar invasion by gunmen on Bmuko community in the same Bwari area council, where four residents were kidnapped and are still being held by their captors.

The information revealed that the gunmen broke into the community in the early hours of Sunday and carried out the operation that lasted more than an hour without any challenge from the security agencies.

A resident of the community who preferred anonymity told LEADERSHIP that the Madaki of the community, Chief John Jatau, confirmed the abduction of 10 residents and four Fulani herdsmen during the attack.

He said that among the four pastors, one person escaped from the custody of the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers have demanded a ransom of N900 million to release the kidnapped people, according to the source.

“The kidnapping incident occurred last night, Sunday, May 5, around 11 p.m. The kidnappers raided the village for about an hour without any response, reaction from the community or outsiders.

“The biggest challenge the community faced last night in terms of communicating with others was that, as a result of the lack of a telecommunications network in the village, they picked people up from house to house. From the community, they selected about 13 people and then released three.

“The Madaki of Piko told me that they called and demanded a ransom of N900,000,000. They picked about four Fulani and one of them was released,” he said.

He identified the abducted persons as including Nuhu Anyiwoyi, Emmanuel Nuhu, Danjuma Ali, Parisa Numa, Ezekiel Jatau, Shekwosa Ezekiel, Roseline Samuel, Salome Jacob, Abyelo Ezra and Ezra Male.

FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer Josephine Odeh is yet to confirm or refute the incident.