There was palpable tension as gunmen suspected to be kidnappers stormed Piko, a remote community in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and abducted 13 persons.
The operation, which reportedly lasted for about an hour without any resistance, occurred on Sunday.
A community source, Chief John Jatau, confirmed that among the kidnapped were 10 residents from his domain, including four nomadic Fulani herdsmen.
He noted that one out of the four Fulani captives managed to escape from the kidnappers’ custody.
Jatau identified the victims still in captivity as Nuhu Anyiwoyi, Emmanuel Nuhu, Danjuma Ali, Parisa Numa, Ezekiel Jatau, Shekwosa Ezekiel, Roseline Samuel, Salome Jacob, Abyelo Ezra, and Ezra Male.
Giving details of the incident, he stated, “The kidnapping incident occurred last night being Sunday 05/05/2024, at about 11:00 pm. The kidnappers raided the village for about one hour without any response or reaction from the community or outsiders.
“The major challenge the community faced last night in terms of communication to others was as a result of no telecommunication network in the village, so they picked people house to house. “From the community, they picked about 13 people, and later released three.”
He further stated that the Madakin Piko informed him that the kidnappers had called and demanded N900 million as ransom.
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