Knocks As Abuja Kidnappers Kill 13-Year-Old Abducted Victim
Following the reported murder of a 13-year-old secondary school girl identified as Folorunsho Ariyo by kidnappers in Abuja, Nigerians have berated the federal government for not taking any tangible action to rescue the victims.
Kidnappers had invaded the Sagwari community on Sunday, January 7, at about 7:30 pm, and kidnapped 11 residents, including a mother and her four children, and a receptionist and barman from a nearby hotel.
A staff member of the hotel who narrated the incident said the gunmen had invaded the community dressed as military men and taken their victims up to the mountain while a pastor escaped, adding that joint efforts by the estate security and some police officers to trail the kidnappers had proved abortive, as they could neither find the kidnappers nor their victims.
OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the late Folorunsho’s corpse was dumped alongside three others around a former military checkpoint behind Idah junction along the Bwari-Jere SCC Road in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, was identified as the daughter of Ekiti state-born Chief Legal Officer of the National Universities Commission.
The kidnappers who cited delays in the payment of N60m ransom for each of the victims, have now reportedly increased their demand from the families of the remaining victims to N100m ransom for each one of the victims.
However, details of Folorunsho’s death have caused an uproar among Nigerians, who have now called on the authorities to bring an end to insecurity in the nation’s capital, noting that the territory had never been so unsafe.
An X user, @Aginas tweeted “It has never been this worse in Abuja. Elections truly have consequences. Some people’s bad decision has plunged the nation into a failed state”.
@Akintollgate, in his post, stated: “Hearing about the murder of Folorunsho Ariyo alongside Nabeeh is just devastating & heart-breaking! Two promising souls with a lot of life ahead of them murdered by some imbeciles. It’s so upsetting!”. Another user, @bamidele_oye, wrote, “A whole Federal Capital Territory is not safe, now imagine other states”.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, Haruna Garba, said it has deployed tactical teams to rescue the abductees and arrest the bandits.
Garba disclosed that operatives of the command have continued to comb bushes and shanties in border areas between the FCT, Niger, Kaduna, and Nasarawa States, in a bid to rescue the remaining 23 victims.
A security source who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity revealed that contrary to social media reports that the attack was carried out on one family, said the family of Mansoor Al-Kadriyar whose daughter (Nabeeha) was killed on Friday, isolated themselves, and are negotiating with the bandits on their terms.
The source revealed, “Police operatives from various tactical units have been combing the bushes and shanties in Bwari and other border areas between the FCT and Niger, Kaduna, and Nasarawa states to rescue the victims and apprehend the bandits. Since the incident happened, the CP had deployed operatives on a rescue mission, but the police had been careful not to jeopardise our efforts by revealing details because the bandits are everywhere – they’re on social media, and they read the news.
“Contrary to what is being said on social, it wasn’t only that family that was kidnapped. About 23 persons were kidnapped during the attack while two police officers were shot and a civilian was killed, as reported in the news last week. However, the issue of this family became severe because they isolated themselves and were negotiating with the bandits, and took everything to social media. Maybe that action emboldened the bandits to demand more and also killed some of the victims. Nabeeha wasn’t the only one that was killed, three other persons were also killed by the bandits, unfortunately.”
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
