Bandits abduct wife and children after killing man in Abuja

Bandits have launched an attack on Ushafa community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) killing a man and abducting his wife and children.

The man was killed when bandits invaded his residence on Thursday night, August 29, 2024.

A police source confirmed the incident but did not go into details.

Ushafa is one of the communities that have come under attacks in the ongoing widespread insecurity in Nigeria.

SP Josephine Adeh, Police Public Relations Officer in FCT, could not be reached for comments as her phone line rang out repeatedly at the time of filing this report.

The development comes after SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market/security intel gathering consulting firm, said Nigerians paid N1.048 billion as ransom to kidnappers between July 2023 and June 2024.

In a report, titled ‘Grim Reaping’, the firm said FCT has the highest ransom demands in the country, with Lagos and Kaduna closely trailing.

It highlighted the complex security situation and the rise in kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria.

According to the report, though abductors demanded N11 billion as ransom within the period, only N1.048bn was paid.

The report also blamed the rising kidnapping for ransom on economic stagnation, noting that kidnappers increasingly target a broader range of people, starting with high ransom demands that are eventually lowered to what families or social organisations can afford.