The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, is currently presiding over a security meeting with security heads over the escalating rate of kidnappings and killings in the nation’s capital.

Heads of the Federal Capital Territory’s security agencies, senior representatives of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), chairmen of councils, and traditional leaders are among those present at the meeting.

Vanguard gathered that the FCT minister issued a directive to the chairmen to enhance their efforts and address the challenge effectively.

Wike, however, urged Abuja residents not to panic.

At the meeting, the minister assured FCT residents that normalcy would soon return to the nation’s capital.

Recall Vanguard had reported that terrorists, bandits, and criminals of other hues took their inglorious activities in the country to a new dimension in the last 48 hours, wreaking mayhem in six states and the FCT.

Their deadly operations across five of the six geopolitical zones of the country left no fewer than six people dead: 60 people were kidnapped, a corpse was stolen, and goods worth millions of naira were also stolen. The only zone not affected by the attacks was the South-South.

However, neither Force Headquarters nor Defense Headquarters, DHQ, responded to calls on an inquiry about what they were doing to stem the tide of insecurity in the country at press time yesterday.

But in Abuja, kidnappers who abducted 10 people from an estate in Sagwari Layout, Dutse, on January 7 reportedly killed three of their victims to send a strong warning to their relatives negotiating ransom payment.

It was also gathered that the bandits had increased their ransom demand from the initial N60 million per person to N100 million, now totaling N700 million.

Residents said the victims were allegedly killed over the ‘delay’ in raising the ransom demanded by the kidnappers.

Vanguard gathered that a 13-year-old high school student, identified as Folorunsho Ariyo, was among those killed.

On Sunday, reports emerged that the kidnappers, who also operated in some villages in Bwari, had killed one of the six abducted persons to force the family into quickly raising the demanded ransom.

Dutse is a town under the Bwari Area Council of the FCT.

Pushed to the wall, residents of Sagwari Layout have perfected plans to stage a massive protest against the perceived inaction of the government and security agencies in rescuing their kith and kin.

Initially planned for yesterday, the protest was, however, shifted to today as a result of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration.

END.