One thing many residents of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) aspire to have is a house of their own. However, insecurity has made some of those who have achieved this feat to abscond their houses to rent houses at ‘safer’ areas in the FCT. Chika Mefor-Nwachukwu writes.
“Who landlord help,” was the response of Daddy Sunday, a resident of the FCT who fled his house in Guidna, a settlement close to Kubwa to rent a house in Phase 4, area of Kubwa.
Sunday had finished building his house in Guidna in 2018 and had been living there since then. However, the activities of kidnappers and bandits had sent him and his family packing to Kubwa, leaving his house empty.
Now, the story of Guidna and kidnapping started in the middle of the night of October 23, 2020. A shrieking wail had awoken the residents. It was the wailing of a mother, Fasuat Yusuf whose son, Abdulateef, was just kidnapped by gunmen.
Yusuf popularly known as Hajiya at the area had rushed from one house to the other calling on the residents to come out and help her find her son. When the residents fearfully come out, it was already too late. The kidnappers were long gone, through a bushy path at the back of Hajiya’s compound.
A resident, who pleaded anonymity explained that he had rushed out after the shout of the wailing mother adding that many of the residents were scared of coming out in the middle of the night.
“We (I and my next-door neighbor) quickly followed Hajiya and her husband to their house to confirm the incident, and we clearly saw the signs that the kidnappers left in the wake of the invasion.
“The security men who we pay every month were nowhere to be found at this material time. They only started to crawl out of their hiding places after the poor woman’s voice had shattered the peace of the night.
“They gave an account of what they observed, and finished their story with the line “they shot severally into the air, and we hid ourselves to avoid being shot.” The father of the young man that was kidnapped confirmed that the kidnappers were well-armed,” he narrated.
He stated that the security men and the father of the kidnapped man had gone out in search of the kidnappers adding that after hours they had returned without the kidnapped Abdullateef.
“I was deeply touched when the man tearfully told us that he offered the kidnappers his two cars in exchange for his son, but they rejected his offer and still made away with the young man.
“If the FCT which houses the seat of power and all the military and paramilitary paraphernalia of government could be overrun by bandits, kidnappers and criminals without anything happening, then it clearly means that nowhere in Buhari’s Nigeria is safe,” he lamented.
Narrating what had happened, the parent of the victim, Yusuf revealed that gunmen, numbering about four had stormed their house through the fence adding that despite demanding money, they had abducted her son.
“They came to the window and they said they needed money, they said we should open the door, that if we don’t open the door what they will do would be worse,” she said.
“After we allowed them into the house, they said ‘where is the money’, when I brought the money from my sales of two days, they said ‘it is not enough’.”
She said the kidnappers made an attempt to take her away but when she could not scale the fence, they opted for her son.
“They took me but I could not climb the fence, so they came back for my son,” she said.
Abdulateef was finally released a few days after his kidnap after his parents had paid an undisclosed amount to the kidnappers.
This incident, the residents said, brought fears among them. They lived in fear, justified because the kidnappers attacked yet again.
One of the residents, John Nze, while speaking about the second incident said;
“I heard a shout and ran out. Gunmen have stormed our neighborhood again. They went to a house that had two security dogs. They went inside and tried to abduct the daughter of the family. I heard that when the kidnappers were trying to go with her, the noise woke up the neighbors, which made the kidnappers hurriedly steal laptops, phones and other valuables, and escaped,” he narrated.
He wondered if the armed men dared to go to the house of people with security, what would happen to people like him who have no walls around him.
“I cannot sleep at night. I don’t know what happened the next day. I just thank God every night and look forward to his protection, the next day,” he said.
He added that the residents have called the police during the attack, but they didn’t come to their aid.
Nze added that the police had arrived in the morning adding that their presence didn’t stop yet another kidnap. This kidnap, according to him, had led to some landlords fleeing their homes.
The kidnappers had arrived at a house, brandishing their guns, and asked for the house’s landlord. The landlord, [they heard] was not available so they took the tenant instead, who was released only after the kidnappers received the ransom.
“I only come once in a while to check my house,” Daddy Sunday explained. “My family and I will remain in Kubwa until this whole issue dies down.”
Another landlord who refused to mention his name stated that he rented a house at a neighboring community called Kagini as there has been no story of kidnap in the area.
“It is better for me. I paid N300,000 for the house. At least I sleep better. N300,000 is better than paying millions if I am kidnapped by those dares devils,” he said.
Even though the residents of the community have organised private security to guard the area, some of the landlords who have fled are yet to return.
Kidnapping in the FCT took a turn for the worse last year especially within communities on the outskirts of the city center. QuicknewAfrica learned that the incident of fleeing landlords is not peculiar to only Guidna as many had left places where the kidnappings are rampant to seek refuge elsewhere.
The FCT Police Command has however reassured residents of adequate protection of lives and property.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Yusuf Mariam, who spoke after a viral publication in social media suggested that some areas within the FCT were vulnerable to Boko Haram attack, said contrary to speculations, the Command had deployed overt and covert strategies to curb banditry and other criminal activities across the territory.
She said the Command had also launched a renewed social engagement strategy to address security concerns in Abuja. She urged the public to provide useful information to the Police and other security agencies, rather than circulate messages capable of causing panic among well-spirited residents.
“We wish to reaffirm our undeterred resolve towards protection of lives and property within the Federal Capital Territory. The Command further implores residents to report all suspicious movements, emergency or distress, through 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, 08028940883 and to report the conduct of Police Officers, they should call the Public Complaint Bureau (PCB) number: 09022222352,” she said.
