Threat to abduct government officials is no bluff

 Nigerians were left shocked on Sunday when kidnappers of the abducted Abuja-Kaduna train passengers, in a video that has since gone viral, threatened to abduct the president and other government personnel. It appears the armed bandits weren’t just bluffing. 

How do you mean? 

Less than 48 hours after the threat, there was an ambush by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on members of the presidential Brigade of Guards in Bwari Area Council of the FCT on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had reported intelligence that the insurgents were planning attacks on major cities in the country, including the FCT, Lagos state, and the president’s home state of Katsina. The soldiers from the elite Guards Brigade were ambushed along Bwari Kubwa road, during a patrol of the Bwari Area yesterday. 

The injured soldiers have been transported to the 7 Guards Medical Center, where they are receiving care. Following a report from intelligence that an attack on the Nigerian Law School was imminent, the soldiers from the 7th Guards Battalion were patrolling the town when they came under heavy fire near the Kubwa-Bwari road. This is, perhaps, the most daring attack by the terrorists, given the fact that the security for the Federal Capital Territory, its neighboring states, the President, his entire family, the Vice-President, and other Very Important Personalities (VIP) is handled by the Guards Brigade. 

Alleged Government Complicity 

Not a few observers have alleged official complicity in the country’s insecurity travails. This was, unfortunately, confirmed in a documentary released on Monday by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Africa Eye, in which a kidnap kingpin, Abu Sanni, said insecurity in Nigeria has become a business everyone, including the government benefits from. “Everyone is benefiting from terrorism in Nigeria, including the government, from top to bottom. The government get money. Though, for our money, blood spill”, Sanni said. 

As a result of the heightened fear of insecurity and threats, the Federal Ministry of Education has directed that all Unity schools in the FCT be closed immediately, and their students evacuated. Ben. Bem Goong, the Ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, in a statement, said: “the closure became necessary following a security breach on Sheda and Lambata villages, suburbs of Kwali Area Council, which also threatened FGC Kwali”.