Suspected Bandits Strike Abuja Community, Kill Guard and Kidnap Pastor

Gunmen, suspected to be bandits in the early hours of Thursday, attacked the Paze community around the Byazhin area of Kubwa in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, killing a local vigilante and abducting four residents, including a pastor and an 11-year-old boy, it was gathered.

The attackers, said to be about eight, reportedly stormed the neighbourhood popularly called “Back of Catholic Church” shortly after midnight.

It was gathered that the attackers shot and killed a security guard identified as Shuaibu Yerima who was on duty to protect the area.

The gunmen also kidnapped Pastor Francis Oriade of the All Christian Fellowship Mission, Maitama, Abuja; Jewel Obeh; Friday Isaac; and an 11-year-old boy, Delight Okeke.

The incident came barely a week after bandits raided nearby Kungabokun community and kidnapped a resident on Sunday, heightening fears among residents of the area.

In an interview with Daily Trust on the attack, Emmanuel Isaac, a younger brother of one of the abducted victims, said he was the first to notice the arrival of the gunmen after they heard a gunshot which was believed to have killed the local security guard.

He said the attackers later entered their compound, some of them carrying guns, and another member of the gang was apparently the leader.

After that, we saw them come into our compound, about four of them, carrying guns. Another member of the gang who seemed to be leading them wore a mask on his face. “We tried to go out the back door, but they rounded us up and told us to go back in the house,” he said.

Isaac said the gunmen tied their hands and that of his elder brother before deciding who to take away.

They bound my hands and my elder brother’s and told me to go with them. But my brother begged them to go with him instead, and they agreed,” he added.

Police officers got to the area shortly after the kidnappers left,” he said.

“About 10 minutes after they left, the police came to the neighbourhood in an armoured van and a Sienna car.

“We begged the police to trail the kidnappers, indicating the direction they took but they said no, that they preferred to go through a different direction,” Isaac said.

Sister Claims Pastor Removed From Room
Elizabeth Oriade, younger sister of the abducted pastor also said the gunmen gained entry into the house through a window after they failed to break the door.

The family only learned of the attack after hearing gunfire around midnight, she said, and the gunmen entered their home about 20 minutes later.

“We saw their presence after some gun shooting around 12am, and they invaded our houses around 20 minutes after,” she said.

The attackers followed them to the toilet, and then dragged the pastor out of his room, she said.

“They followed us to the toilet, pulled the pastor from his room, beating him in the process as he made them suffer much for not opening the door of his room immediately, according to them.

“They cut one of our wrappers and tied our hands with it, took our mobile phones, and also took some cash before taking him away,” she narrated.

Mrs Joy Alex, who said her husband, Jewel Obeh, was among those abducted, said the gunmen broke into their house shortly after the family returned from their shop.

She said she spent more than an hour looking for the house key before returning home with her husband and daughter.

“On that ill-fated night, I remained at the family shop beside the roadside in our neighbourhood till about 11pm looking for the house key for over an hour. I then told my husband to go and check into a hotel before my daughter finally found the key,” she said.

She said the attackers came about an hour after they arrived home.

“About an hour after I got back home we heard the gunmen were coming. They pulled a window with tools like a digger that was attached to the house.

“Two of them jumped in and said, ‘Open our door. “They first wanted to take my daughter away, then they decided to leave with my husband alone,” she lamented.

Mother begs; 11-year-old abducted
The mother of the abducted 11-year-old boy, Erenta Okeke, said the gunmen broke into her house through a window and demanded money, holding a gun to her head.

The woman said her husband was not at home when the attackers stormed the house.

“My husband was not around at the time, so they decided to abduct my little son after begging with them to spare his younger sister who was shivering throughout the period of the operation,” she narrated.

The attack has left the community in fear with many calling for urgent security intervention to prevent further attacks in the area.

Residents said the slain vigilante was first shot in the leg but bled to death after a delay in getting medical attention.

Funeral prayers were held at the palace of the chief of Ijayapi, also in the Byazhin community, before he was buried on Thursday.

When contacted by the media platform, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, promised to investigate the incident and revert but had not done so as of the time of filing this report.

A reporter who visited the area saw officers at the Byazhin Police Division holding a meeting with some members of the affected community.

A senior police officer at the Byazhin Divisional Headquarters who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the incident, saying operatives were already on the trail of the kidnappers.