Residents of the sleepy Gulida Community in Abaji area council of the FCT were recently thrown into confusion following the death of a herder and abduction of a housewife by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.
The gunmen, said to be armed with AK 47 rifles, invaded a Fulani camp through a bush path at about 12am last Thursday. The herdsmen were said to be asleep when their camp, which was just few meters away from Gulida community, was attacked by the bandits.
A herder, simply identified as Ayuba, said the gunmen started shooting into the air as they approached the camp, and he quickly woke his family up and quietly crawled into the bush to hide, after he had ordered his wife and three children to run to Gulida village for safety.
He said while he was hiding in the bush watching, the gunmen continued shooting into the air, which forced other herders inside to remain ambushed in their houses.
“By the time they went away, I started hearing some of my kinsmen crying and then I quietly returned to the camp to see the lifeless body of one of my kinsmen Iliyasu Adamu, while I was told that a housewife was also abducted by the gunmen,” he said.
He said the gunmen injured two herders after one of them allegedly used the butt of his gun to hit them (herders) on the head.
Ayuba said the district head, Alhaji Umar Awoje, later visited the camp and then placed a call to the men of Yaba Police outpost, who came so ascertain the level of damage done and to initiate a manhunt for the killers. The dead herder was later buried according to Islamic rites.
Another herder, Kabiru, who told our reporter that they migrated from Niger State, said since the camp was created in the community six years ago, they have never experienced such kind of vicious attack.
He said nothing was stolen from them but instead the gunmen only went straight and killed one of their kinsmen before abducting a housewife.
“I believe there is an ulterior motive behind this attack because there are cows at the base and they didn’t bother to take any of them away,” he said.
The district head, who also spoke with our reporter, said they were devastated over the attack. He said residents were forced to remain indoors while he later went to the herders’ camp to see what happened before phoning the police at Yaba Outpost.
“I had to call the Chief Imam to join me with a few others after the police from Yaba outpost had gone to see the corpse, before it was taken away and buried according to Islamic rites,” he said.
Daily Trust gathered that a similar incident occurred a month ago at Kitikpa community, where gunmen invaded another Fulani camp and abducted a herder until ransom was paid before he was released.
When contacted, the Abaji Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP David Kolo, said immediately he received the report of the attack, he briefed the Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo, about the incident.
He said the police are making frantic effort to rescue the kidnapped housewife.
Also reacting, the FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Usen Omorodion, said the command had since deployed men of the anti-kidnap squad to the forest to trail the kidnappers hide-out. (Daily Trust)
