Abuja man escapes kidnap attempt by fake soldiers
Abuja man escapes kidnap attempt by fake soldiers
An attempt by some hoodlums dressed in the camouflage uniform of the Nigerian Army, and disguised as officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces, to kidnap an Abuja entrepreneur, Justice Ezeh, has been thwarted by neighbours.
The incident happened in the early hours of Saturday, September 16, when the kidnappers arrived at Ezeh residence in Dogongada village, in the Kabusa-Lokogoma areas of the Federal Capital Territory. The suspected kidnappers came in a navy blue Peugeot car with tinted glass with 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.
Residents told The PUNCH that the 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 12 pm on Saturday. On arrival, one of them went straight into his room to drag him out in an attempt to push him into the car and drive off.
“They arrived here around 12 pm on Saturday, and I saw the two men dressed in military uniform enter 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’re not soldiers but hoodlums,” a resident who simply identified as Kingsley said.
Meanwhile, speaking with our correspondent concerning the incident, while calling on the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army to take drastic actions against criminal impersonators the victim, Mr Ezeh, said he could probably have lost his life if not for the intervention of neighbours.
Ezeh 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 12 pm, 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’ve reported the matter at the police station in Kabusa market, and the police promised to go after them.”
The PUNCH reports 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.
This was as the Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, announced that the police had begun 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.
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, noting that they’ve been recently identified to be used by criminals.
“We’ll go after them. The CP has warned against such vehicles without complete number plates in the FCT as they’ve been found to be used in perpetrating crimes,” SP Adeh said.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, noted that the Nigerian Army would intensify efforts to get the perpetrators arrested.
“We’ll do our best to get them. Such criminals can kill anybody because of money. They’re criminals. The Provost Marshal and the Chief of Military Intelligence would be informed in order to get them arrested.”
Credit: Punch Newspaper
