Child abductions put Zuba on edge
Zuba, a satellite town in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which has boundary with Madallah in Niger State is a gateway to the nation’s capital, with daily influx of people. But with the influx is the attendant rise in crime wave, including child theft and kidnapping.
Many parents in Zuba are now afraid of allowing their children step outside the house to play or go on errands for fear of being abducted. Investigations have revealed that many children, mostly males aged five years or below, were declared missing this month alone.
Six children were earlier declared missing between November and December last year within Zuba. The Agora of Zuba, (traditional ruler) Alhaji Muhammad Bello Umar, had confirmed their disappearance at a security meeting held in his palace with various security agencies represented.
Apart from the reported cases of missing children, there were also cases of kidnapping, especially at some settlements within Paiko and Gurfata. It was reported that on January 2, 2018, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Dobi Ward identified as Abubakar, was kidnapped at his Kayada Sabo village by gunmen.
A close friend of the APC ward chairman later confirmed that N2.5 million ransom was paid to secure his release. A Fulani leader in Paiko, Usman Gambo, had at the security meeting alleged that some kidnappers invaded their settlement and abducted a woman and her children.
Five children were declared missing at Unguwar Madaki, two of them, Ismaila Mohammed and Isyaka Yahaya, who were stolen from the same compound, were five years old.
Two other children, Labaran and Usman Mohammed, were declared missing from their residence behind the Zuba Central Mosque. They were aged four and three years respectively.
Residents told our reporter that the cases of missing children increased in the area last year, with attendant fear. As a result, they said, parents have chosen to keep their children indoors most of the time, and even sending them on errand or allowing them to go to neighbors’ houses is not frequent anymore.
Abdullahi Shuaibu, a relative of a family whose child was declared missing on January 9, said residents were on edge over the current situation. He said some time ago while returning from school, some children decided to move with their play mates but suddenly disappeared without any trace.
“In fact, the recent one when five children got missing in a day really confused parents to the extent that when children are taken school, parents no longer relax until they return home,” he said.
Another resident, Gabriel Chukwuma, said kidnappers use biscuits to lure children and often escape with children who yield to their gestures.
“But I also blame some parents, especially mothers who are supposed to look after the children but just abandon them to walk around anyhow. In fact, some women would even take their children to the market and look the other way, and before you know it, the children would disappear, “he said.
The Agora of Zuba, Alhaji Muhammad Bello Umar, while commenting on the issue, said the palace was very disturbed. He said he had always invited members of his traditional council to deliberate whenever there was such a case in his chiefdom.
According to him, the palace penultimate Tuesday summoned a security meeting which had representatives of various security agencies in attendance to find a solution.
“Just late last year, when a report came to me that six children were missing, the palace met with the security agencies to find a solution. This has been giving us nightmare,” he said.
He said in the last security meeting, some members of the traditional council suggested recruiting more vigilante group members to check the menace. He called on government to provide more security personnel and patrol vehicles in the area, saying Zuba is a gateway to Abuja, and witnessed influx of people daily from different parts of the country.
“Zuba is not like before, now, people coming from the North must pass through Zuba and settle down before thinking of the next place to go. So the influx of people is contributing to security challenges in my chiefdom,” he said.
Reacting, the spokesman of the FCT police command, DSP Anjuguri Manza, said both uniformed and plain clothes policemen were being deployed within Zuba to check crime in the area. He said stakeholders and parents should always cooperate with security agencies to ensure that they monitor people who enter the area. He however denied knowledge of recent reports of kidnapping, saying the command had not received any such case, even as he called on the public to support the police in giving useful information that would help arrest criminals across the FCT.