FCT police parade 8 suspected kidnappers of UniAbuja staff

Federal Capital Territory Police Command (FCT) says it has arrested the eight suspected kidnappers involved in the abduction of six members of staff of the University of Abuja.

The police also added the arrest was made possible after its unit engaged the gang in a fire-fight at Shenegwu Forest in Gwagwalada Area Council.

Issuing an update on the University of Abuja kidnapping incident, the FCT Police Command stated that its operatives in a joint operation with the military and other security agencies had earlier rescued the six kidnap victims on Friday.

The Tuesday morning kidnap, which alarmed security agencies, had triggered a massive security cordon around the nation’s capital, leading to the deployment of troops and mounting of road blocks at the entry points to the territory by the Brigade of Guards.

The Brigade of Guards of the Nigerian Army is assigned to protect the President, his family and the nation’s capital.

A statement by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Josephine Adeh, said a joint operation by security agencies arrested the culprits after a fierce gun duel.

“Following investigations and manhunt for the criminal elements involved in the abduction of staff of the University of Abuja at the University Staff Quarters, Giri, on November 2, 2021, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force in collaboration with the military, the DSS and other security agencies, in a joint operation, in the early hours of Friday, November 5, 2021, successfully identified the hideout of the criminals located at Shenegwu Forest in the Gwagwalada area of the FCT and rescued all the abducted victims unhurt.

“The criminal elements on sighting the security team, engaged them in a fierce gun duel. However, the superior firepower of the security operatives led to the arrest of eight members of the notorious gang while some other members of the gang fled into the forest and nearby communities,” the statement read.

The police statement also disclosed that the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Babaji Sunday, ‘enjoined residents particularly those around the Gwagwalada area of the FCT to be vigilant and provide the police with useful information that could assist in apprehending the gang members still at large while efforts were being intensified to arrest fleeing members of the gang.’

The police said the suspects would be charged to court on conclusion of the investigations.

The CP disclosed that investigation was being accentuated while a dragnet was extended to arrest all the criminals, as he also urged residents to ‘report all suspicious movements.’

It would be recalled that gunmen suspected to be bandits, early Tuesday, November 2, invaded the University of Abuja campus, and abducted staff of the institution, as well as, their children.

The incident which was confirmed by spokesman of the institution, Dr Habib Yakoob, said four members of staff were victims of the attack.

The whereabouts of the staff and their children are yet to be ascertained, as the institution’s spokesman assured that ‘efforts are being made to ensure their safe return,’ although he did not disclose the steps taken to ensure that.

“Suspected bandits attacked the staff quarters of the University in the early hours of today.

“Our Safety officers, in conjunction with security personnel, mobilised to secure the quarters.

‘We have report that four of our staff and their children were, nevertheless, abducted by the evil men.

‘Efforts are being made to ensure their safe return. A sad day for us, indeed!”the statement by Yakoob read.

However, the lecturers along with their children regained their freedom, by Friday.

The lecturers were released along with some of their family members in the early hours of Friday, November 5.

Chairman Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja Chapter, Comrade Kassim Umar confirmed the development in Abuja, Friday morning.

Umar did not, however, disclose if the University eventually paid the ransom which the gunmen had demanded as condition for freeing their captives.

Umar said the freed university lecturers were on their way home returning to their families in the University campus.

The bandits were said to have stormed the University Staff Quarters in Giri and held lecturers hostage.

Report says the gunmen earlier demanded N300 million to release the abducted lecturers.

The six released victims included two professors of the university.

Also confirming the release of the lecturers, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Federal Capital Territory Command, DSP Josephine Adeh, disclosed that some arrests were made.

According to the university’s Head, Information and University Relations, Dr Habib Yakoob, in a statement, late Friday, the three senior staff of the school and children who were abducted by suspected bandits from the Giri Quarters of the University in the early hours of Tuesday 2nd November 2021 were rescued following the operations of the combined security forces including the police, Department of State Security (DSS), Military, and University of Abuja Safety Officers.

“Though the abductors earlier demanded payment of three hundred million (N300, 000,000) naira ransom, our staff were rescued without any payment at all.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja), Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah, also confirmed the institution did not pay N300 million ransom to the abductors of the four lecturers and their two other family members who were rescued by security personnel on Friday morning.

“No no, no, no, we didn’t pay a kobo, not a cent, not a naira no never, we never paid anything, we rescued them, so many people were arrested, we got them, yes the police got them.

“The truth is that we are hosting the young people from all over Nigeria and just hearing the news that people could be kidnapped so easily and we cannot even go to bed, the fact that people did not know what was going to happen to the kidnapped colleagues if they would be released without injury would anyone be killed, it was traumatic.”

Narrating the impact of the ordeal on the university, Prof Na’allah said it was a very difficult moment for the university community, as he stressed that it was a traumatic period and that the experience was difficult to explain.

“The impact was traumatic and difficult to explain, imagine the people you know, the people you worked with being kidnapped

“We were not scared, we cannot be cowards and we are not, the truth is that we are just beginning and we are not afraid of anybody, but we are mindful of every strategy we must take to improve on the security and we are taking them” Na’allah added.