The growing climate of insecurity in Abuja, the nation’s capital, intensified Thursday as seven mourners were kidnapped by terrorists at the border community of Gidan Bijimi, a rural settlement in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Sources said the victims, comprising six girls and a 16- year-old boy, were abducted in a well-coordinated attack that happened about 10pm Wednesday.
Similarly, in Niger State, no fewer than 24 persons, among them pregnant women, were kidnapped from a rice farm in Palaita village in ShiroroLocal Government Area.
Relatedly, Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, warned that insecurity in the state had become “deliberate, systematic and coordinated,” revealing that no fewer than 12,000 persons have been killed and more than 420 communities attacked between 2001 and May 2025.
House of Representatives set up a special ad-hoc committee to scrutinisethe surge in insecurity across the FCT, a situation that persisted even after the federal government installed a $460 million CCTV surveillance network, financed through a Chinese loan.
According to sources, the Abuja victims had travelled to the community that shared boundary with a neighbouring village market around Kaduna State for a burial ceremony of a relative before the armed men invaded the area.
The incident added a new layer to the pattern of raids that increasingly targeted vulnerable FCT border communities.
An eye witness said the bandits that brandished AK-47 guns, raided two houses in the community and bolted with the victims, amid sporadic shooting that deterred many residents from confronting the criminals.
It was gathered that some residents also abandoned their homes after the incident as a precautionary measure.
Incidentally, the abduction happened three days after the FCT minister Nyesom Wike launched Operation Sweep and directed police and security agencies to strengthen surveillance, curb crime, and ensure residents’ safety citywide.
The hoodlums also unleashed an attack a day after the FCT police commissioner, Miller Dantawaye, assured residents of the readiness of the police to secure the border communities as well as all the major places in the nation’s capital.
In Niger State, it was gathered that the Shiroro local government abduction took place on Wednesday while those kidnapped were working on their rice farm.
Public Relations Officer at State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident in a one-paragraph statement.
Abiodun stated, “On November 26, 2025 at about 8pm, report received indicated that suspected armed men abducted about 10 persons from Angwan-Kawo and Kuchipa villages of Shiroro Local Government Area. Effort is being emplaced to rescue the victims.”
Olawale Ajimotokan,Juliet Akoje Seriki Adinoyi and Laleye Dipo
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