Residents of the Federal Capital Territory have hissed sigh of relief as news of the killing of the kingpin of the three notorious bandits in a forest within the Bwari Area Council of the FCT hit the airwaves last Friday.
Operatives of the Special Intervention Squad, Federal Capital Territory Police Command neutralised three notorious bandits in the said forest during an invasion to bring to an end the nefarious activities of the outlaws.
The bandits were killed in the early hours of Friday at about 2 am, in the forest which links Abuja with Kaduna State.
Amongst the three bandits the police reported to have been killed by its SIS was their gang leader, Mai Gemu popularly known as Godara, who, alongside his gang members have been terrorising the FCT and its neighbourhood.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Friday during the parade of about 20 criminal suspects arrested for various offences across the country revealed the development in Abuja.
He said, “We’ve recorded another significant stride towards fortifying the security landscape in the Federal Capital Territory following the recent launch of the Special Intervention Squad under the command of the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun.
“The SIS, in the early hours of Friday neutralised one of the most wanted kidnap kingpins, Mai Gemu aka Godara and two other members of his gang in an exchange of gunfire in the Bwari area of Abuja in a forest linking Abuja with Kaduna State.”
The Federal Capital Territory Police Special Intervention Squad had taken over a major route in Usafa, Bwari Area Council, used by bandits to transport their victims out of Abuja into neighbouring states of Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, and Kogi.
The FCT SIS Commander, Commissioner of Police, Bennett Igwe, confirmed the development on Saturday when a team of armed policemen and crime reporters stormed the hilly parts of Ushafa community as SIS operatives mounted guards to flush out bandits.
There have been growing concerns among the residents and authorities of the territory as Abuja has been facing an unprecedented surge in insecurity.
The FCT, once considered a relatively immune city to the prevalent security challenges in other parts of the country, has since been battling with the high wave of criminal activities, particularly kidnappings and attendant murders.
The Point investigations revealed that the most notorious among the incidents over the past seven months of terrorism, murder and kidnapping include the abduction of 23 persons, involving some members of the Al-Kadriyar and the Ariyo families on January 2, 2024, in the Bwari Area Council.
However, prior to the killing of Mai Gemu last Friday, the Police had paraded one Chinaza as the leader of the most dreaded kidnapping group in Abuja and its environ.
Following the news making the rounds, an Abuja original inhabitant, Solomon Jubayi, a clergyman, has commended the police on its efforts to rid the FCT of the menace of banditry, kidnapping and murder which has smeared the fast growing image of nation’s capital among its contemporaries.
“According to Jubayi, “the Nigerian police are now out to prove their rating in international ranking which puts them ahead of others. The news and reports we always get from their participation in the global peace keeping mission under the United Nations shows how effective they are in security matters but back home here in Nigeria, they seem to be overwhelmed by the insecurity ravaging the country. Now that they have killed one of the kingpins, arrested another, their morale will be very high, so we are hopeful that this menace has reached its final bus stop.”
He also advised the Police to synergize with other security agencies and the citizens for effective execution of whatever plans to stamp out insecurity in the FCT and other parts of the country.
“With this bold step and achievement, all that is needed here in the FCT is a synergy between the police, other security agencies and of course, the citizens for information gathering and execution. This, we have all known, is an asymmetric war where your enemies are living with you, hearing what you are hearing and are even in custody of all information within your disposal. So, I believe now that this administration by its body language is interested in stamping out insecurity, we should all join hands together to fight and reclaim our country. Paying lip service to it does nobody any good,” he said.
An Abuja-based security expert who preferred anonymity also commended the police on their efforts so far but cautioned that the celebration of killing two or three bandits in Abuja should be curtailed because the city is really in a mess.
“The expert also warned that the police should do less in publishing their plan against terrorism because it gives them away and encourages the terrorists and bandits to maneuver”
The expert also warned that the police should do less in publishing their plan against terrorism because it gives them away and encourages the terrorists and bandits to maneuver.
“It’s good that the police have taken the bull by the horns in their war against terrorism and banditry in Abuja but I think it is better they limit exposing their information on their plans even within them. There are infiltrations in the police, military, even civilian vigilante. These bandits have those working with them from the inside, in such a situation in security, only those going for an operation should know of it till its execution. If this is done, then it will be very easy to detect the saboteurs or informants within the ranks.
“But one worrisome thing is that Nigerians are forced to believe that some officers and men are involved because of the huge ransom paid by the victims, so the onus lies on the police to clear their image by taking the war to another level and ensure there are no excuses. Nigerians will automatically conclude whenever the tide swings against the citizens. We talk to the people. We gather information and we know what the people’s thinking is.”
While some residents are celebrating the police for the new development in combating insecurity, others who have been living at the mercy of armed robbers are calling on the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike to rise to the occasion of protecting the territory and its residents.
Jireh Okakwu, a trader in the outskirts of the FCT lamented that where she lives in Dagbana near Jikwoyi have been under siege for a couple of weeks and the worst thing is that the police would only come to the scene after the robbers had finished robbing their victims. She said they are faced with both terrorism and robbery and this has made life miserable for them and so beg the FCT Police Command to come to their rescue.
“You are talking about banditry and kidnapping but we are facing these in addition to armed robbery. In the last couple of weeks armed robbers have kept us under siege. The other night they totaled over 20, invaded us and robbed every home of their victims, spending hours only for the police to arrive when they had left.
I’m not blaming the police but I think their early arrival would have helped us. These people are the same. They become terrorists, bandits or armed robbers when it suits them all their target is money. Some of them are heartless, that’s why they kill their victims. We are managing to make ends meet and somebody wants us to cough out money. They are heartless,” she lamented.
The invasion of bandits in the FCT has caused a rift between the minister and the Senator representing the Territory, Ireti Kingibe. The senator in a television programme blamed the minister for shifting his attention from the territory to his state, Rivers where according to her, he is still fighting to retain his political structure while FCT is burning. She also accused the Wike FCT administration of starting the bungled CCTV contract that would have aided in securing the territory.
Kingibe further claimed that she had made several efforts to get to the minister so that they can put heads together and work for the betterment of the good people of FCT but the minister pushed her aside.
In response, the FCT Minister blasted Kingibe over what he described as speaking on what she is ignorant of. The former Rivers State governor in a television interview claimed that the FCT senator does not have an idea of what transpired in the CCTV contract saying that the police, not the FCTA initiated the contract.
He said, “It is not just coming out on national television and beginning to say what you don’t have facts on. That you are an FCT Senator does not give you the opportunity to go on national television to say whatever you want.”
