Terrorists Strike Abuja Community Hours After Tinubu's Emergency Declaration, Kidnap Seven Residents

Suleiman Shuaibu, whose cousin was among the kidnapped, confirmed that the victims included a 16-year-old boy and six girls aged 17 to 23.

No fewer than seven people were abducted from Gidan-Bijimi, a village in the Kawu ward of Bwari Area Council, Abuja, on Wednesday night, just hours after President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency.

The gunmen stormed the village around 10pm, shooting indiscriminately before whisking away the victims.

Residents told Daily Trust that the attackers struck from the border area between Abuja and Kaduna State, leaving panic and fear in their wake.

Suleiman Shuaibu, whose cousin was among the kidnapped, confirmed that the victims included a 16-year-old boy and six girls aged 17 to 23.

“It was around 9:53 pm when a call came from the Gidan-Bijimi community that some bandits invaded the village and abducted six young girls, unfortunately my cousin sister happened to be among the victims,” he said.

Shuaibu added that local vigilantes attempted to resist the attackers but were quickly overpowered by the bandits’ superior firepower.

Meanwhile, the abduction comes barely 24 hours after President Tinubu declared the nationwide security emergency, aimed at curbing the rising wave of bandit attacks in Kwara, Niger, Kebbi, and other states.

The president’s directive included the immediate recruitment of 20,000 police officers and 30,000 military personnel, conversion of NYSC camps into training depots, withdrawal of police escorts from high-profile officials, and deployment of State Security Service operatives to flush out bandits from forest hideouts.