At least 22 people have been kidnapped in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following an attack by unidentified gunmen.
Confirming the attack, FCT police said on Friday that it occurred within Rafin Daji, a border community between Niger State and the FCT.
According to Oduniyi Omotayo, the acting FCT police spokesman, who confirmed the incident to Channels Television, the gunmen attacked the community while farmers were cultivating their farm land.
“The farmers were working on their farm land when gunmen outnumbered them and kidnapped them,” a spokesperson said in a brief WhatsApp message.
Omotayo, on the other hand, did not provide many details about the attack or those abducted.
Nonetheless, the police imagemaker stated that a combined team of security personnel has been deployed to the area and is aggressively combing it for traces of the abductors in order to bring them to justice and rescue the abductees.
According to eyewitnesses, the gunmen fired sporadically when they invaded the neighborhood; fortunately, no lives were lost.
According to witnesses, the assailants abducted 22 farmers and set fire to two tractors belonging to the owner of a large farm in the area.
Thirteen family members were said to be among those kidnapped by the gunmen.
Engineer Ibrahim Barde, a relative of some of the victims, said his immediate younger brothers and their families, who were working on their farms, had just finished when the gunmen attacked.
“They were 13 of them on the farm including seven children between the ages of 15 and 17, three women; one just got married last year and an aged woman, my brothers and the tractor driver,” the distressed engineer explained.
“Ismaila Barde, Mustapha Barde, Nasiru Barde, Abdulkarim Barde, Sanusi Barde, Usman Barde, Nura Barde, Abdullahi Barde, Babawo Barde, Farida Ayuba, Hauwa Ayuba, and Husai Abdullahi,” he said of some of his relatives kidnapped.
The gunmen, according to engineer Barde, have contacted his family but have not made any demands.
“They were 13 of them on the farm including seven children between the ages of 15 and 17, three women; one just got married last year and an aged woman, my brothers and the tractor driver,” the distressed engineer explained.
When reached for comment on the attack, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, the district head of Gurdi Ward, confirmed the incident but said he had yet to learn the identities of those abducted.
Alhaji Bala lamented that his people were constantly being attacked by bandits who were infiltrating the FCT through Niger State.
He urged the authorities to take decisive action before the situation worsened.
