Abuja Community Foil Attempted Kidnap By ‘Fake Soldiers’

Residents of Dogongada village, in the Kabusa-Lokogoma areas of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have foiled an attempt by suspected kidnappers dressed in the military camouflage uniform of the Nigerian Army and disguised as officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces, to kidnap an Abuja entrepreneur, Justice Ezeh.

Narrating the story to journalists, a witness identified as Mr Kingsley said the incident happened over the weekend when the suspected kidnappers came to the house of Mr. Ezeh in a Navy Blue Peugeout car with tinted glass, and no number plate attached to the rear of the vehicle, while a number plate AX-506-BWR was attached to the front of the vehicle.

He explained that three kidnappers, two of whom were dressed in the uniform of the Nigerian Army and a third dressed in mufti, arrived Ezeh’s at about 12pm on Saturday, while one of them went straight into his room to drag him out in an attempt to push him into the car and drive off.

According to him, “they arrived here around 12pm on Saturday, and I saw the two men dressed in military uniform entered into the compound, so I went to call on other male neighbours in the area because I thought they were soldiers who came to beat up the guy. I was surprised when we later discovered that they are not real soldiers but hoodlums.”

The victim, Ezeh, also said he could probably have lost his life if not for the intervention of neighbours.

He said: “Thanks to my neighbours I could have been a dead man by now or those guys would have just kept me somewhere asking for ransom.

“They arrived my house at about 12pm, and one of them came directly into my room, while one stood inside the compound, and the other one that was on mufti stood outside. They had an electric shocker with them, and they came in a tinted car with no number plate at the back. They tried to drag me out but I started shouting. They couldn’t explain why they came, they only said I was under arrest. But when neighbours heard my noise and came to my aid, they lied that I was a fraudster and they had information about me.

“So we told them to call the police or the EFCC if their allegations were true, but they refused. And when we asked for their ID cards they couldn’t provide it. We have their videos recorded during the incident. When they noticed that a neighbour had called the police, they ran into their car and fled. I have reported the matter at the police station in Kabusa market and the police promised to go after them.”

Meanwhile, when contacted over the attempted kidnap incident, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, said the police would go after the kidnappers, adding that the CP, Haruna Garba, has declared zero tolerance for vehicles without complete number plates.

“We will go after them. The CP has warned against such vehicles without complete number plates in the FCT as they have been found to be used in perpetrating crimes,” SP Adeh said.

Recall that the FCT Police command had earlier cautioned residents to remain vigilant and make reports to the police over vehicles with incomplete or both foreign and Nigerian number plates at the same time.

The commissioner of police also said the police had began a clampdown on vehicles with unauthorised number plates, following public outcry against vehicles operating in the FCT with incomplete or foreign number plates and Nigerian number plates at the same time.