How troops rescued Nabeeha’s sisters, other Abuja kidnap victims

More information about how the Nigerian Army’s combined security team and troops saved 12 kidnapped victims from lethal armed bandits on January 2 in the Zuma 1 area of Bwari Area Council on Saturday night has surfaced.

“The operatives successfully rescued the victims around Kajuru forest in Kaduna State at about 11:30 pm on Saturday, January 20, 2024,” the FCT Police Command stated in a statement signed by SP Josephine Adeh.

Recall that on January 2 and 3, suspected bandits stormed the Zuma settlement in the FCT’s Bwari Area Council, wounding two police officers and capturing roughly ten people, including Mansoor Kadriyar, a father, and his six daughters.
A middle-aged man named Alhaji was shot by the bandits after the victims promptly notified him to the attack. He attempted to rally police to stop the kidnapping of the seven family members and others, but he was killed by gunfire.

Prior to the robbers taking off with the victims, two police officers suffered injuries.

The bandits then increased the ransom to N100 million after demanding N60 million, at which point they killed Nabeeha, the oldest daughter, for failing to pay the money.

After a vigilante in the region was shot during the event, three more people were previously abducted by bandits in the Barangoni area and the Bwari area council.

“CP Haruna Garba expressed gratitude to Inspector General of Police, IGP Olukayode Egbetokun, for the deployment of the recently established Special Intervention Squad, which has enhanced the FCT’s current security architecture,” the statement reads.

According to Zagazola Makama, a counterterrorism and insurgency analyst with access to military activities, the Nigerian Army’s 197 Special Forces Battalion conducted the operation on January 20.

“Following intelligence obtained at 2200 hours (10 pm), troops participating in the operation have given a thorough report supported by visual evidence interwoven with coordinate data of the rescue effort near Gurara Dam in Kachia LGA.
He added that the 12 people who had been abandoned by their kidnappers were found by the army after they reacted quickly and found three adult females, two female children, and seven male children.

With military soldiers controlling the area and guaranteeing the safety of the rescued persons, the army intervened with promptitude and precision.

Moreover, the army report states that on their way back with the rescued individuals, the forces came into an ambush by suspected bandits.

“The soldiers suppressed the threat despite the unexpected attack, saving both the victims and the rescue team from harm.”

According to him, the police received the freed abductees from the army and will help them reunite with their families.
“We have all the pictorial evidence marked with coordinates to show the time and location of the rescue which we have shared,” an officer was quoted as adding.

“While protecting citizens is undoubtedly our primary mission as citizens of the same country, it is extremely disheartening for our troops to learn that during an operation in which they were the target of a lethal ambush, someone will write off their efforts by saying that the police anti-kidnapping squad worked in tandem with the army to carry out the operation.

For heaven’s sake, it is not a cooperative operation to turn over rescued abduction victims to civil police.