Armed Gunmen Strike Again In Troubled Abuja Community, Kidnap Resident

 

Some daredevil gunmen, on Thursday night, abducted another resident of the Pegi community in Kuje Area Council of Abuja, a report by PREMIUM TIMES has shown.

The victim was returning from work when he was kidnapped. 

The victim, identified as Friday Adewole, was abducted around 9 p.m. along the 1000 Units Estate road. The kidnappers left his Honda car, popularly called End of Discussion (EOD), by the road side. 

A spokesperson of the community, Oyedeji Oyetunji, said Mr Adewole’s car was found very close to a police checkpoint though the police were not on duty at the time of the incident. 

Until this morning when the abductors made a demand of N50 million as ransom, the identity of Mr Adewole was unknown to the community leaders who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES earlier about the sad development.

The abduction came exactly one week after four persons were abducted from their homes in Kiyi, a village about three kilometres from Pegi.

The abductors demanded a ransom of N50 million from the family of Olalekan Salami, a senior official of the FCT Administration, who was among the four victims kidnapped on March 24.

The Pegi community chairman, Taiwo Aderibigbe, on Friday morning told PREMIUM TIMES that “professional hunters who work with the DSS are currently combing the forest in search of the abducted resident.”

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the district, Magit Solomon, declined comment on the incident when contacted by this newspaper.

“Sorry, no, I cannot grant an interview unless it’s from the FCT Police PRO’s office,” Mr Solomon told PREMIUM TIMES before ending the call.

Efforts to speak with the FCT police spokesperson, Mariam Yusuf, were unsuccessful as she did not respond to phone calls or replied text messages from this reporter.

There has been an upsurge in the cases of abduction in the Pegi community in the recent past.

Its leaders said at least 30 persons had been kidnapped in the area in the last two years and about N50 million had been paid as ransom. 

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the abductions are going on in the community despite the presence of a division of the Nigerian police and a naval barracks.