Pegi residents protest over kidnappings
Following the abduction of nine persons among them a 12 year -old child by kidnappers on Monday night in Pegi, Kuje Area Council, residents of the area yesterday protested at the council secretariat and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) complex at Area 11, Garki, Abuja.
The residents, led by the Chairman of Pegi Community Development Association (PECDA) Mr. Taiwo Aderibigbe, demanded that security measures be put in place to forestall future occurrences.
The protesters in their hundreds carried placards and converged on the complex gate, urging the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, to tackle the security menace in the community.
While addressing newsmen, Aderibigbe said residents of Pegi resettlement were expressing their displeasure with the authorities for not giving the desired attention to the security challenge.
According to him, Pegi community host over 17,000 residents, “but in the last 48 hours, nine of our residents have been in kidnappers den, while a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officer is lying critically ill in hospital.”
The PECDA chairman recalled how four residents were kidnapped last year and two others were injured along the same spot, a situation which he said prompted residents to vote against the former chairman of the council “for not showing concern over the plight of Pegi residents.”
The residents had earlier, in Kuje, called on the chairman of the council, Abdullahi Suleiman Sabo, to as a matter of urgency come to the aid of Pegi residents in fixing the bad roads and provide security in the area.
Also speaking, the general secretary of PECDA, Mr. Charles Onozie, said successive administrations of the council have continued to pay lip service to the security challenges facing residents of Pegi community and deplorable state of the road.
The vice chairman of the council, Mr. Shem Kwasu, while addressing the protesters at the front of the secretariat gate on behalf of the chairman, said the council’s administration was making efforts to address the security challenge facing residents of Pegi.
Meanwhile, the minister of state for FCT, Hajiya Ramatu Aliyu Tijjani, said the FCT Administration is working in collaboration with relevant security agencies to ensure the kidnapped victims are rescued.
Addressing the protesting residents, she said the administration shares the pains families of the kidnapped victims were going through, saying those involved would be brought to book.
“We are with the entire residents of Pegi community 100 percent, we feel this pain more than you perhaps, and you will all know that we are fully in charge,” the minister said.
She assured the protesters that the road linking Dafara to Pegi community was already receiving attention, saying the contract for the project will soon be awarded to a competent contractor that will carry out a good job on the road.