During 194 attacks carried out by bandits and other criminals in the Federal Capital Territory in 2022, over 69 people were killed and 194 were abducted.
This comes as the FCT administration has promised to improve security in the new year to ensure the safety of people and property.
Data from media reports and a leading indigenous intelligence firm, Beacon Consulting, revealed a total of 194 security breaches in the FCT’s six area councils.
On December 6, 2022, seven people were kidnapped, including an ex-corps member and a pastor, and two men were killed during a bandit attack in the FCT’s Kubwa area.
On October 12, gunmen abducted a male resident in Maitama and killed one person. Six days before the attack, bandits attacked the Abaji area of the FCT, killed a federal government employee, and fled with his body.
In June of the same year, a herdsman was abducted by gunmen in the Kwali area of Abuja. On April 20, bandits abducted four family members in the Kuje area of the FCT.
In February, an Abuja prince was kidnapped in Kuje, following the abduction of a 12-year-old girl in the same area on February 1.
But reacting to the reports in an interview with Punch, the Chief Press Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Anthony Ogunleye, among other things, noted that the security situation in the FCT had improved in recent times.
Ogunleye said, “The issue of insecurity has reduced in the FCTA in recent times. The police and other security agencies are working hard, and the administration and the Minister have done so much to support them.
“The FCTA is doing so much. These bandits usually come from bordering states and they go back. If you noticed, the attacks usually occur in the outskirts bordering other states. However, there’s the inter-agency security committee that works in tandem with security outfits of bordering states, and they’ve been doing so much to dislodge bandits and kidnappers.”