Molly Kilete, Abuja
Residents of Ukya Tsoho village in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were thrown into confusion when gunmen stormed their village and abducted four persons.
The gunmen numbering over fifty were said to have stormed the village at about nine o’clock at night shooting sporadically, abducting innocent villagers and carting away over 25 android phones, food items and other provisions before leaving the village.
The kidnapped victims include a housewife, Mrs Blessing Alex, her 18-year-old son, Frank Alex, and two other villagers Saidu Ibrahim and Zabe Alkali.
Daily Sun gathered that the kidnappers have made contact with relatives of their victims, demanding N10 million in ransom if they want their relations alive.
It was gathered that the husband of the kidnapped woman and her son, Mr Johnny Alex, asked his wife who was in the kitchen preparing pepper soup to hide when he heard sounds of gunshots and that it was while she was trying to hide that she was spotted by the gunmen and kidnapped.
Narrating his ordeal, Mr Alex, a trader who sells provisions and operates a drinking establishment, said:
“I was inside the shop attending to customers with my son when I heard gunshots and I asked my wife to run and hide. But before she could escape, they caught her and my son and took them away.
“They also entered my shop and carted away soft drinks, spaghetti, biscuits, bags of rice and beans, palm oil and food items and provisions.”
He said the other persons abducted by the gunmen were people who came to charge their phones at his shop.
On whether the kidnappers had made contact with him, Mr Alex, said: “The kidnappers called on Saturday and they demanded N10 million before they would release my wife and son, and I wondered where I would get such money from.”
The wife another kidnapped victim, Mr Salamatu Ibrahim, said her husband, Mr Saidu Ibrahim, had gone to buy soft drinks from Mr Alex shop where he was kidnapped. The woman, who said they were observing the Ramadan fast, stated that her “husband took only one Mango to break his fast before he left home for Alex’s shop to buy soft drinks that he would take when he was kidnapped.”
She said she has not been contacted by anyone since her husband was kidnapped.
When contacted, the FCT Police Command spokesman Anjuguri Manzah, said: “I am yet to get a brief about it.” He promised, however, to get back to our reporter but had not as at press time.