Residents flee Abuja suburbs over bandits – Newstrends
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Residents flee Abuja suburbs over bandits

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4 years ago

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The spate of banditry attacks and kidnappings in villages and towns in Abuja sharing boundaries with Niger State has forced most residents to abandon their homes for places they consider safe.

Daily Sun investigation revealed that the most affected towns are Bwari, Kuje and Kubwa where mass exodus of persons have been witnessed recently.

In Bwari, it was learnt that those who have abandoned their homes cited constant underreported attacks by bandits and frequent abductions of family members by kidnappers as reasons.

Residents of Bwari, who spoke to Daily Sun, said kidnapping is now a regular occurrence, lamenting that streets are now deserted at sunset, over fears that people could be abducted for ransom.

Communities mostly affected in Bwari are located around the Nigerian Law School, Veritas University and areas bordered by mountains and forests close to Niger State.

Similarly, in Pegi, a fringe town in Kuje Area Council of Abuja, residents are relocating in droves to the metropolis, as bandits and kidnappers operating in the area have intensified their activities in recent weeks.

The development in Kuje has forced major schools to shut down. Some of the schools that have shut down are SS Simon & Jude Seminary, Kuje Abuja, Louis Ville Girls, Gwagwalada and Hand Made Girls, Kuje.

Residents living around the mountains in  Byazhin, Kubwa, also lament the increase in vices, such as kidnapping and rape. They said strange faces who visit the market from those mountains, occasionally, to buy foodstuffs, are becoming frequent.

Those who spoke with Daily Sun said their environment was no longer safe, as they could no longer go out freely, due to fear of being kidnapped and raped, irrespective of gender.

Chioma Okereke, a resident, said that prior to the recent development, it used to be said that kidnappers were after the rich, but lamented that  today, it is no longer so, “because the hardship in the country has pushed both the thieves and other crime perpetrators to kidnapping because even when they steal, nobody is willing to buy the stolen items.”

Further investigation revealed that despite the repeated kidnappings by suspected bandits and payment of ransom, the FCT administration, led by the Minister, Muhammad Bello, was yet to summon an emergency meeting with community leaders of the affected areas, on how to address the issue.

In Kuje, about 37 minutes from the Presidential Villa, residents are not leaving anything to chance. In Pegi, which has become the epicenter of major abductions in Abuja, residents, who are majorly from the southern part of the country, are relocating to the metropolis.

A resident said the place was becoming a ghost town. “The adjourning road linking the community and Abuja is in a deplorable state. Bandits who operate in a thick forest along the road, lay ambush everyday,” said a resident did not want to be named.

She said: “I have lived and done business in this area for more than 20 years. I have never experienced the type of fear that we are passing through these days. It is just that it is not easy for one to move with his family to another person’s house. If not, we would have moved.

“The condition is becoming alarming by the day. These days, we witness influx of strange faces coming to the market to buy foodstuffs, especially during the weekend. We are really scared. Something needs to be done very fast.”

Another resident, Susan Useni, said: “This country has turned into something else. Before, when you hear of kidnappers, you would say it doesn’t concern you because it was believed to be for the rich; but, today, things have changed. They are now after everyone. This year, almost all my family fruits are wasting in the farm because everyone is afraid.

“The last group of family members who visited the farmland for harvest ended up paying ransom, depending on what you can afford. Some even paid as small as N10,000. That is to tell you how rampant it has become. Before, you hear religious workers saying they wanted to go up the mountain to pray, but now it is no longer so.”

Aminu Alhasan, said they are now after pregnant women and men.

He said: “Two heavily pregnant women were kidnapped close by here and gang raped. If not for spiritual purpose, how can a normal person settle for another man’s pregnant woman after collecting ransom? Life is no longer safe in this part of the town. On a daily basis, people are kidnapped and money collected quietly.

Despite the fact that Abuja has the nomenclature of a State, the FCT administration has always maintained that the issue of insecurity doesn’t fall within its purview. Instead, it claimed that security agencies, whose headquarters are domiciled in Abuja, should handle the issue.

– The Sun.

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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10 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

 

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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10 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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11 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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