2 weeks ago
21
By Abubakar Yakubu, Abuja
Sunday January 12, 2025 appeared to be like every normal day at the Three-bedroom Saburi Estate in Abuja as residents watched the day pass by before deciding to going to bed before midnight.
While some went to bed, the likes of Mathew Chilo (not real name), who likes to watch late night movies, was about dozing off on the sofa in his house when he heard an unusual noise outside his apartment around 2am on Monday.
“I thought the vigilantes were discussing among themselves aloud, and I decided to caution them later in the morning against such practice. That was when I received a phone call from my immediate neighbour that armed criminals had invaded our community and were robbing nearby apartments.
“The next thing I heard were loud screams, which made me dress up and sneak out of my apartment, before calling another neighbour with the chief vigilante officer and we all started making loud noise to alert other community members of the danger,” he stated.
He said while many of the bandits who were armed with guns, machetes and sticks that looked like clubs were busy robbing flats in the community, those outside shot at their direction until all members of the criminal gang regrouped and disappeared inside a cashew plantation near the railway track.
Chilo said after the bandits had left, community members started searching and calling the name of their security man ‘Baba.’ The security man later rushed out from the bush where he had been hiding, bleeding profusely.
“The bandits had used a knife to cut his face from ear to ear and the cut was really very deep, as the doctors at Bell Hospital, where we first rushed him to, referred us immediately to Kubwa General Hospital where doctors over there spent several hours trying to stop the blood,” he added.
learnt from residents in the area that the bandits came out from inside the cashew plantation in the area to attack the estate after midnight and later disappeared inside there.
“The ones that attacked the Three-bedroom Saburi Estate were over 30 and whenever they enter a compound, they would share themselves into groups of fives before invading each flat,” he disclosed.
He said throughout the attack, the police were nowhere to be seen but only appeared at the hospital where the security man had been admitted to interrogate those who brought him
Another resident said bandits also attacked the Four-bedroom Saburi Estate on Wednesday January 15, where they successfully robbed apartments and shot one of the landlords on the leg.
He said security men in the area later chased them from the estate and they ran to the Three-bedroom Saburi Estate and Zawda Community and continued their robbery operation unabated throughout the night.
Chuma, another resident, lamented further that on New Year eve, the bandits robbed residents of Osumenyi and Ikejiani streets in the area unchallenged.
“They also robbed those who were returning from the crossover service in churches and the surprising thing is that a few hours after the incident, the police came in their vehicle, making noise and blowing the siren for a brief moment and disappeared,” he said.
Folunsho, a former military officer who is also one of the residents of the area, advised the Saburi Police Division to wake-up their surveillance unit so that they can be more proactive.
“The police function is not only to combat crime but they are also to prevent it. That cashew plantation needs to be raided by the police constantly to fish out the criminals,” he declared.
Our reporter gathered that at times, residents normally see suspicious faces at joints around the area and a resident said some of such places can serve as a venue for their meetings.
The bandits again struck at Chikakore Community at Kubwa, and abducted four family members after robbing some residents on Monday January 27.
Again their mode of operation, according to residents of the area, appeared similar to that of Saburi as they came in large numbers holding guns, machetes and clubs, robbing houses in the early hours of the morning.
One of the houses invaded was that of Mr Akinropo Adesiyan, where his wife, Mrs Esther Adesiyan, his son Ifeoluwa, a family member Dr Adekunle Adeniji and himself were all abducted from their apartment.
The bandits also abducted a neighbour of the Adesiyan’s who was a worker at a poultry farm and seriously injured the worker’s wife.
Mrs Adesiyan’s remains was later discovered on Monday night inside a bush close to Itagbajii community in Niger State.
The Divisional Police Officer of Byazhin Police Station was said to have called one Oluwafemi Adepoju, a friend of Adesiyan to follow him to Niger State to identify a corpse.
learnt that the woman was shot at the left part of her chest and had injuries all over her body, which might have been inflicted by her abductors. The body was later deposited at the Kubwa General Hospital.
The FCT Police spokesperson, while reacting to the Adesiyan’s case, confirmed the abduction in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja.
She said the FCT Police Command has commenced a comprehensive search and rescue operation aimed at securing the safe recovery of the abducted victims and apprehending the perpetrators of the criminal act.
The spokesperson advised residents of Chikakore community and the general public to remain calm and vigilant, adding that any useful information that could assist the investigation and rescue efforts should be promptly reported to the police.
“The command can be reached via the emergency lines: 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653 and 08028940883,” she informed.
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