Kidnappings: Kuje villagers slaughter ram, offer special prayers
Following incessant kidnappings and killings by suspected gunmen, some residents of Sabo community in Kuje Area Council have slaughtered a ram and offered prayers over kidnappings and killings.
Sabo is a remote village in Kuje, which has had its fair share of bandits’ attacks and kidnappings, according to residents in the community. It is far from Pegi, the recent epicenter of kidnappings but it is close to Kwaku, Gadoro, and Bugakwo communities which have experienced violence recently.
A resident of Sabo, Ibrahim Yahaya, who spoke with our reporter yesterday, said residents of the community last Friday, after the Juma’at prayers, contributed money and bought a ram which they slaughtered and offered prayers to God to intervene over activities of armed bandits terrorising their villages.
He said the special prayers’ session was presided over by the chief Imam of the community’s central mosque, Malam Adamu Suleiman, who recited some verses of the Qur’an, seeking God’s intervention.
He said residents of the community have been living in fear as a result of rumours that some suspected gunmen have marked the village as their next target to invade.
“In fact, as I speak to you, there are some of us who are civil servants and are working in area councils but cannot go to the village again, especially for weekend because of fear of being abducted by kidnappers.
“So it is on that basis that the elders of the community decided to come together and tasks themselves to raise money and buy a ram to slaughter and offer prayers,” he added.
Ibrahim alleged that there are some insiders that have been conniving with armed bandits to kidnap people, adding “as I am talking to you right now, I just received a call that we who are civil servants should not come to the village as some peoples’ names have been given to the kidnappers.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Kuje Area Council, Abdullahi Suleiman Sabo, who hails from the community, has said he is very unhappy as a result of the incessant kidnappings and killing of people by gunmen in the council.
Sabo stated this on Sunday when he paid a condolence visit to the family of two persons that were set free after they were abducted by kidnappers at Gaube village in the area.
He said it was unfortunate and quite disheartening that within the past three weeks, reported cases of kidnappings and killings of innocent persons have dominated the public domain, saying his administration would not relent in ensuring the lives and property of residents were protected.
He said, ending banditry and kidnappings remains a key priority of his administration, adding that he would do whatever it takes to ensure the council’s security challenge is tackled.
“How can I be happy and indifferent to the senseless kidnappings and killings of my fellow people by bandits? I am human and I understand the pains of the victims and their families who have been traumatized and impoverished by constant ransom demands by bandits,” he said.
The chairman added “It’s regrettable that bandits have informants within communities and it is utterly reprehensible that certain persons have signed protection deals with bandits at the expense of other innocent people, thereby creating complications and frustrating security interventions,” he said.