JUST-IN: Panic In FCT As Terrorists ‘Threaten To Attack’ Custodial Facility In Kuje

Some residents of Kuje, in Kuje Area Council of the Federl Capital Territory (FCT) are currently living in fear after terrorists allegedly threatened to attack the Medium Security Custodial facility in the town.

Some residents woke up with messages on different WhatsApp chat groups, urging them to observe a dusk-to-dawn restriction of movement allegedly put in place by some security operatives

One of the messages on different WhatsApp groups read “Good evening residents for the information of all , there is a curfew alert message sent to me from another platform in view of the insecurity in Abuja and Kuje in particular. It is no longer news that there are large presence of fully armed soldiers patrolling in Kuje, especially in the Passali area. To this effect, a curfew has now been imposed on some areas in Kuje. Please residents there is a red alert in Kuje, let us be careful.”

Also, another message from another WhatsApp group read “Security Alert. This is to bring to the notice of members of this group that there will restriction of movement (CURFEW) from the hours of 6pm to 6am.

“The affected areas include: Wowo Garage to Chibiri, Shadadi village, Shetuko village, Kango village. Please go home early to avoid embarrassment. Pls pass this information to our brothers and sisters.”

However, when LEADERSHIP correspondent spoke to some residents of Kuje on Thursday, it was confirmed that a purported curfew was in place in some areas of Kuje Area Council and that the military was actually directing residents and businesses to close on time.

One of the residents, John Ugwu, who spoke to us, said “the curfew is real and it is being observed in my area. The military is patrolling my area and asked shops and businesses to close by 7pm.”

He further revealed that there were discussions around intelligence that terrorists were planning to attack Kuje Correctional facility and that is what triggered this whole actions by security operatives.

Another resident of Chibiri area of Kuje, who spoke LEADERSHIP on Thurday, also confirmed the large presence of troops, who have been deployed to nooks and crannies of the town. He added that the development was informed by rumours of planned attack by terrorists on the Kuje prison to release their detained members from the facility.

However, one of the residents of Kuje, Gbenga Omo, who stays at the entrance of Kuje, said his area was relatively calm and people were still on the road when he got back from work by 10pm on Wednesday night.

However, the FCT Police Command was not aware of what is happening in Kuje Area Council of FCT as it claimed not to be aware of the ‘curfew’ in place.

FCT Police Command’s spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, when asked if they the command was aware of the security threat and attendant curfew in Kuje, she simply replied “Not True.”