On Sunday night, a group of armed gunmen carried out a raid on Piko, a rural community located in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. During the attack, thirteen individuals were abducted, and the perpetrators have demanded a ransom of N900 million.
The incident, which took place without any resistance and lasted approximately one hour, is the latest in a series of assaults on the council.
A community member, Chief John Jatau, verified that among the kidnapped individuals were ten residents from his area, including four nomadic Fulani herdsmen.
He mentioned that one of the captured Fulani persons was able to escape from the custody of the kidnappers.
The captives still held by the gunmen were identified as Nuhu Anyiwoyi, Emmanuel Nuhu, Danjuma Ali, Parisa Numa, Ezekiel Jatau, Shekwosa Ezekiel, Roseline Samuel, Salome Jacob, Abyelo Ezra, and Ezra Male.
Providing details of the incident, he explained, “The abduction occurred on Sunday night, the 5th of May, 2024, at around 11:00 pm.”
“The assailants conducted the raid on the village for about an hour without encountering any resistance from the community or external sources.”
“The primary communication challenge faced by the community during the incident was the lack of a telecommunications network in the village, leading the kidnappers to go from house to house.”
“They took about 13 individuals from the community and later released three of them.”
He also mentioned that the Madakin Piko informed him of the ransom demand of N900 million made by the kidnappers.
It is worth noting that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had recently allocated logistical support, such as motorcycles, to bolster security in remote areas of the territory.