Pascal Arogorn Ibe
About 40 gunmen on Wednesday night struck at a community in Chikun local government
area of Kaduna State where they abducted 3 ladies
According to locals, they were armed with AK47 rifles, adding that the village, Damishi, had
been under constant attack by gunmen who abduct people for ransom.
A local, Abraham, said in an interview that the bandits came to abduct a Catholic priest in
the community, but the clergyman was not at home.
He said when the gunmen did not meet their target, they stormed a hotel in the community,
where some residents normally go to sleep at night for fear of the bandits.
He said those abducted included three women, two nursing mothers with their babies as well
as a teenage girl. Abraham said, because of the incessant abductions in the community,
people paid for rooms in the hotel and their families relocate there at night to sleep.
He alleged that security personnel who came were overwhelmed by the bandits and had to
turn back.
Abraham said, other residents, including himself, had relocated their families to Kaduna
metropolis due to the persistent abductions.
According to him, many people in the community which is about six kilometers away from
Kaduna city, no longer sleep in their homes. “Rarely a week passes without somebody being
abducted by gunmen in our Damishi and neighbouring communities.”
“Some of us were living in Kaduna metropolis, we bought land and built our houses here, but
with the current security situation, I have moved my family to our family house in Kaduna
pending when I get a place to rent”.
“The community has been under siege by bandits for a long time despite the proximity to
Kaduna metropolis.”
“Many of us don’t leave in our houses because of fear of the kidnappers.
“Three weeks ago, a pastor of the Baptist Church in the community was abducted. “The
following week the leader of our community was abducted. Last week they came to a
neighbouring village to abduct the community leader, unfortunately for them they did not
meet the community leader who accompanied the vigilante for patrol that night.
“His family had left the house,
so when the kidnappers went to the house, they didn’t see anybody.
“Because of the frequent abductions, some took their family to a hotel in the community.
They paid for rooms for their families to be sleeping there in the night to avoid being
abducted.
”The kidnappers came yesterday (Wednesday) night to abduct a reverend father, but they
didn’t meet him when they came.
“So they went to the hotel, the gunmen were many, about 30 of them or more. They always
come in very large number, they carrying guns.
“They knocked from room to room in the hotel and kidnapped many people, most of them
children aged between 6 and 10.
“After they left with them, they felt that the children were not moving fast enough for them to
escape, so they released them and went with six women which include two nursing mothers
and their babies.”
He said many residents of the community are already searching for rented houses in Kaduna
to relocate.
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