Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted a woman, Mrs. Hannatu Tukura, alongside her 30 year-old son, Takpeyilo Tukura, near Tika junction in Kuje Area Council of the FCT.
Our reporter learnt that the victim, who is a widow, is the wife of the late Administrative Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nasarawa state, Mr. Shedrack Tukura.
A resident of the community, simply as identified as Benjamin said the incident happened around 8:12pm yesterday when the woman, her son and a nursing mother as well as an elderly woman were travelling to Rubochi village in the area.
He said some gunmen suddenly appeared from the bush and flagged down the vehicle being driven by the victim’s son at gun point while approaching the Tika junction.
According to him, the gunmen opened the car’s door and ordered the woman and her son out of the vehicle before they were whisked away into the bush.
“The gunmen wanted to also go with the elderly woman and a nursing mother who were also inside the vehicle, but when they later discovered that the elderly woman looked sick and coupled with old age, they spared her and one other that was carrying a newly born baby,” he said.
He said the families are yet to establish contact with the suspected kidnappers, just as he said the incident has been reported to the Police at Rubochi divisional police headquarters in the area.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Kuje Area Council, Abdullahi Suleiman Sabo, has confirmed the latest kidnapping of the woman and her son.
Sabo, in a statement he issued on Sunday, through his Chief of Staff, Malam Garba Abdullahi Rijau, condemned the incident.
He said he was deeply touched by the mindless incidents of kidnapping innocent people, saying no sane person who believes in any God would be acting in such manner to collect ransom from the poor who are struggling to survive in remote areas.
The chairman reminded the bandits of his uncompromising resolve to tackle them with all the resources at his disposal.
“Make no mistake about it; this government is ever determined to discharge its fundamental duty of protecting the lives of its citizens from physical threats from any groups bent on creating chaos, confusion, and destroying social and economic life of the people”, the statement said.
The chairman, therefore, sympathized with the families of the kidnapped victims, while assuring all citizens of the council that his government would never tolerate bandits’ blackmail.
“And our security forces would confront the kidnappers to the last man until those in captivity are released,” he said.
When contacted, the spokesman of the FCT Police Command, DSP Anjuguri Manza, did not pick calls put across to his mobile lines as at the time of filing this report.
