Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted a pastor of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Pastor David Ajibola, and five others at Anguwar Samu in Tugan -Maje, an Abuja suburb in Gwagwalada area council.
A resident of the area, simply identified as Usman said three women who are house wives and two men including the pastor were abducted by the gunmen who invaded the community around 1:37 am on Wednesday.
He said the gunmen, who came in their large numbers with sophisticated weapons attacked some houses at Anguwar Sarki, and whisked away two men and three women.
He said the gunmen immediately proceeded to the house of the pastor and also whisked him away at gunpoint.
“They actually abducted 11 persons including a Pastor but due to exchange of fire between the police and vigilante members, five among were rescued, while they whisked away with the remaining six other victims,” he said.
Another resident of the area, who also simply identified himself as Shedrack, said the gunmen operated for nearly two hours amidst sporadic gunshot into the air.
The councillor representing Tungan-Maje ward in the area, Salihu Adamu, confirmed the incident, saying he was terrified by the sporadic gun shot by the gunmen that attacked some houses in the area.
He said five among the kidnapped victims were rescued through the combined efforts of the police and vigilante members in the area, even as he appealed to the police authorities to intensify efforts in ensuring that the remaining six victims are rescued.
Meanwhile, the FCT police command has said it has rescued five kidnapped victims at Tugan-Maje village, a bordering FCT and Niger state.
In a statement, the spokesman of the FCT police command, DSP Anjuguri Manza, said the victims were rescued after distress at about 0130 hours in Tungan-Maje, about kidnap incident, in which he said a joint team of police operatives from the command Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Rapid Response Squad and Zuba police division responded swiftly to the scene.
He said there was a fierce gun confrontation with the heavily armed hoodlums, which he said the police team successfully rescued five of the kidnapped victims.
According to him, a concerted effort has been deployed to rescue the remaining five victims that are still with the hoodlums who escaped into Niger state through a nearby forest that was surrounded by rocky terrain.
“And the command is still reassuring members of the public with its commitment to deploy proactive crime-fighting measures to ensure the security of lives and property in FCT,” he said.
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