Kidnapping: FCT Gets Approval For Tracking Equipment

The minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has said that President Bola Tinubu has approved emergency procurement of digital tracking tools to help halt kidnappers in their tracks in the territory.
Wike, who made this known at a media chat yesterday in Abuja, said that while he would not go into details, the informants recently arrested by security agencies in the territory are cooperating and offering actionable intelligence.

He said information obtained from the suspects had led to the arrest of some kidnappers who were paraded by the police at the weekend.
The minister further said that security agencies had also been able to foil more attacks, adding the government was not sleeping on its duties.
Wike lamented that the lack of adequate equipment in the past led to recent unpleasant events, but that with the emergency procurement approval by the president, the story would now change.

“So many facilities were not provided. Vehicles for the security agencies were not there. You cannot believe it that equipment to track criminals were not there. When anything happens, they go back to the office of the National Security Adviser or to the Force Headquarters.
“That is not the way it is supposed to be. When I was the governor of Rivers state, the DSS told me they wanted a particular equipment. We were the only state that had it then. In fact, sometimes the headquarters asked for its use.
“That is a special equipment they needed and that equipment, we know how expensive it is but we had it and that was able to help us reduce the level of crime.
“It was able to track the specific phones, not one that would say, for example, the criminals are around the city here; with that equipment, it was specific; it can track a particular phone to the exact spot or room.”

Meanwhile, Wike has warned residents of the territory to stop politicising insecurity in the territory.

Wike, who gave the warning during a media chat in Abuja yesterday, said that politicians were cashing out on the current security challenges to cause panic among FCT residents.

He stressed that instead of commending the efforts of security agencies in addressing insecurity, some residents have continued to create panic by dishing out false alarms.

“After the first kidnapping incident in Bwari, President Tinubu summoned the service chiefs and my humble self and within a few days you have seen what they have achieved.

“But nobody is talking about that. Nobody has come to commend them. All you hear is security has collapsed,” he said.