* Other cities caught up too
* Lives of security personnel, citizens at risk
* As hoodlums exhibit impunity, audacity
By Dauda Ismail
Early on Friday , residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and it’s environs woke up to the news of daredevil armed robbers who attacked a police station before going on to rob a bank in Abaji, Abaji Area Council which borders Kogi State.
Sources disclosed that during the shootout that ensued, one of the police personnel was shot, while a security guard working in the bank also sustained a gunshot injury.
Furthermore, irate/angry residents of Abaji area council pounced on one of the wounded armed robbers who could not escape and set him ablaze during the incident.
According to sources, the robbers who invaded the bank at about 5 p.m. when it was winding down operations for the day first attacked the police station along Toto Road, where an inspector, identified as Inspector Habila, was shot dead.
In a statement on Friday, Josephine Adeh, spokesperson of the FCT police command, said a group of about 15 men attempted to rob a First Bank branch in Abaji on Thursday.
Adeh said Benneth Igweh, FCT commissioner of police, was personally on ground to oversee the operation.
“In swift response to an armed robbery incident at First Bank PLC in Abaji on June 13, 2024, at about 5:00 PM, the FCT police, led by the commissioner of police, CP Benneth C. Igweh, psc, mni, himself, in a combined operation with the military, mobilized to scene and repelled the attack simultaneously carried out on both Abaji Divisional Police headquarters and first bank PLC in Abaji by a group of fifteen armed men who attacked with dynamites in attempt to rob the bank,” she said.
“One police operative and the gang leader were hit by a bullet during the gun duel, were rushed to the hospital, and the doctor on duty confirmed them dead, while others are still receiving treatment.
“While search operation is ongoing to apprehend fleeing suspects with bullet injuries, the commissioner of police FCT, CP Benneth C. Igweh, psc, mni, lauds the effectiveness of the combined operation and reaffirms the command’s unflinching commitment to ensuring that FCT remains inhabitable for criminals, noting that the safety of the residents of FCT is non-negotiable.”
This is about the latest in a series of armed robbery attacks that have resurfaced in the FCT and it’s environs.
Recall that as if ushering in the reign of terror this year, on Tuesday January 2, armed robbers killed at least four persons inside the Wisdom Supermarket in Karu near Abuja.
It was gathered that the criminals made their way into the crowded shopping hall at exactly 8:30pm demanding money and ransacking everywhere. Before the armed robbers exited the supermarket, at least four persons were found on the floor lifeless including a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as the entire area was thrown into confusion.
Located in One Man Village, Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, a bustling suburb at the outskirts of Abuja, where most residents work in the Federal Capital Territory.
Since then, Mararaba, Nyanya Gwandara, New Nyanya, Masaka, all bordering towns to the FCT; Kubwa, Maple, Dutsen Bokuma, Karmajiji, Giri, Tungan Maje and several other settlements within the FCT have all experienced armed robbery attacks. Innocent residents who do not have much money or expensive devices on them are battered and sometimes maimed by these daredevil criminals.
Mama Danjuma, a mother of four whose house in New Nyanya was attacked in February when the area was raided said: “After collecting the little money we had plus my Infinix and my daughter’s Samsung smartphones, they still beat up and threatened to kill my husband because he was using an Itel torchlight phone. Despite our pleas that he was being owed for six months at his place of work and had to sell his smartphone to treat me when I was hispitalised, they still inflicted deep cuts on his arms and back . It was just God that saved his life.”
For Angwan Police in Masaka, Nasarawa State, residents were woken up by sporadic gunshots at about 11 pm on Saturday June 1 when armed robbers invaded their community. Members of a foremost Pentecostal Church who were about rounding up their programme were all dispossessed of their phones, money and other valuables . And the story is not different across the capital territory and it’s satellite settlements.
Speaking to this medium, an auto dealer who lives in Tungan Maje in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, said he was out of town when robbers shot his door open and robbed his family. ” I was happy that they did not injure my family physically, but the money totalling N117,000.00, the smartphones of my wife and children, their hair extensions, my wife’s trinket box , two flat screen LED television sets and a few other belongings including my shoes and dresses were carted away with
“Notwithstanding, I still thank God because some of my neighbours who didn’t have much properties for them to carry were severely injured to the point neighbours had to contribute money for their treatment.”
Another respondent, Alhaji Idris Abdullahi who resides in Dutsen Alhaji said: You see, the insecurity we are suffering from today was caused by a continuous condoning and subtle support that has survived successive administrations both at the national and the sub national levels.
For instance, what snowballed into full-scale terrorism was initiated, condoned and supported albeit unknowingly by political, ethnic and religious leaders. Also, majority of these robbers causing mayhem today are the thugs that were used by politicians who now abandoned them after the elections. So they have suddenly realised that with the firearms in their possession they can still survive even when abandoned, and that is how they have resorted to crime, and that is why you see the boldness and impunity with which they operate.
“Most unfortunately lives of innocent citizens and that of the security personnel are no longer safe. I will however call on the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to rise up to the occasion and protect the helpless masses .?
