Over 69 persons were killed and 194 abducted during 194 attacks carried out by bandits and other criminals in the Federal Capital Territory in 2022.
This is just as the FCT administration has promised to improve security for the safety of lives and property in the new year.
Data sourced from media reports and a leading indigenous intelligence outfit, Beacon Consulting, revealed that a total of 194 security breaches were witnessed in all the six area councils of the FCT.
On December 6, 2022, seven persons including an ex-corps member and a pastor were kidnapped, while two males were killed during an attack by bandits in the Kubwa area of the FCT.
On October 12, gunmen abducted a male resident in Maitama and killed one person. Six days before the attack, bandits attacked the Abaji area of the FCT, killed a Federal Government employee, and fled with his body.
In June of the same year, a herdsman was abducted by gunmen in the Kwali area of Abuja. On April 20, bandits abducted four family members in the Kuje area of the FCT.
In February, an Abuja prince was kidnapped in Kuje, following the abduction of a 12-year-old girl in the same area on February 1.
Our correspondent could not reach the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, as of press time, as she said she was busy.
But reacting to the reports in an interview with our correspondent, the Chief Press Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Anthony Ogunleye, among other things, noted that the security situation in the FCT had improved in recent times.
Ogunleye said, “The issue of insecurity has reduced in the FCTA in recent times. The police and other security agencies are working hard, and the administration and the Minister have done so much to support them.
“The FCTA is doing so much. These bandits usually come from bordering states and they go back. If you noticed, the attacks usually occur in the outskirts bordering other states. However, there’s the inter-agency security committee that works in tandem with security outfits of bordering states, and they’ve been doing so much to dislodge bandits and kidnappers.”
