A pastor known only as Àjàyí, based in Abuja, was reportedly kidnapped by suspected kidnappers from the El-Rufai Estate in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory.
The abduction occurred after a period of relative peace experienced by the residents, following a recent series of kidnappings in the FCT.
A resident of the community, identified only as El-Ameen, told our correspondent in a telephone interview on Saturday that the suspects began firing into the air as soon as they entered the community.
El-Ameen added that more abductions might have occurred if not for the prompt intervention of the nearby military, which quickly arrived at the estate to stop the invaders.
They invaded the estate at about noon on Tuesday. They started shooting into the air, and all the residents could not come out. This has not been reported. It happened in one of the estates called El-Rufai, roughly a few kilometres from the Nigerian Law School.
“I have a property in the estate. A pastor who worked with the education board was kidnapped. They invaded his house after gaining entry into the estate. After shooting for some minutes, they abducted him.
“There was a local vigilante group on the estate, but they were overwhelmed. They could not match the firepower of the gunmen. They were about to go to another house when the soldiers came. They fled immediately after seeing the soldiers.
But they had already abducted the pastor before fleeing,” El-Ameen told our correspondent.
Bandits have attacked communities in Bwari, abducting several residents in recent times. In December 2023, approximately six sisters and their father were taken from their home in the area council.
In response to public concern over the unstable security situation, the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, promised in February 2024 that adequate security measures would be implemented in Bwari and the surrounding areas.
He hinted that substantial security forces had been deployed based on intelligence from security agencies to ensure the safety of residents, as well as private and public institutions in the area.
However, a resident known as Danladi, who witnessed the night attack, reported that residents were in shock when gunshots rang out in the estate on Tuesday.
Danladi said, “It happened about two days ago. They didn’t injure anyone, but they abducted one person. They (the kidnappers) have not called the estate since the abduction.
“The pastor lives in the estate. Kidnappings used to happen before. But since the FCT minister brought more security personnel to the area, we have not seen any incidents of the Tuesday attack.
We were surprised when we heard gunshots. We started hearing gunshots by noon on Tuesday. They were trying to raid other houses in the estate when the joint security forces suddenly showed up.”
The FCT police command did not respond to our correspondent’s inquiries about the incident. Calls and messages to its spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, remained unanswered as of the time this report was filed.