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Gunmen abduct sleeping teenager in FCT

By Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna
29 January 2020   |   4:17 am
Some gunmen have abducted a 17-year-old student of the Federal Government College in Rubochi, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The student, Gift Abiikor, was kidnapped from the home of one Ahmed Adamu, at about 1:00a.m....

• Man in court over alleged abduction, sexual assault of three women
• Protest in Kaduna over kidnapped teenage girl forcefully given out in marriage

Some gunmen have abducted a 17-year-old student of the Federal Government College in Rubochi, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The student, Gift Abiikor, was kidnapped from the home of one Ahmed Adamu, at about 1:00a.m. yesterday while she and Adamu’s children were fast asleep on the same bed.

It remains, however, unclear why the gunmen targeted Abikor, who apparently had visited the house. Reacting to the incident, the FCT police command said investigation had begun with a view to not only rescuing the victim, but also unraveling the circumstances surrounding the abduction.

FCT Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Anjuguri Manzah, in a statement, said: ”According to Adamu who reported the incident to the police, some armed men stormed his house at about 1:00a.m. and abducted one Gift Abiikor, who was sleeping on the same bed with his children. The unfortunate incident happened at the residence of Adamu, which is outside the premises of Federal Government College Rubochi. The Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Bala Ciroma, has ordered a discreet investigation into the incident,” Manzah said.

Meanwhile, a 32-year-old man, Gabriel Adams, was yesterday brought before a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State for allegedly abducting and assaulting three women sexually as well as forcing them into prostitution. Adams, a resident of Opebi area of Lagos, is facing charges of conspiracy, sexual assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, abduction and stealing.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to them. The prosecutor, Sgt. Modupe Olaluwoye, told the court that the defendant committed the offences sometime between 2017 and 2019 at Ikeja.

Olaluwoye said the defendant promised the three complainants: Miss Victoria Ubadi, Miss Blessing Olorunfemola, and Miss Mercylina Nzenwa, admission into a university in Lagos.

According to her, Adams asked the complainants to live in his place while attending lessons in preparation for the university entrance examination. Olaluwoye told the court that the defendant abducted the three girls and forced them into prostitution and made N9 million off them. “My lord, the defendant planted a charm in his victims’ room and also faked the death of a man there.’’

The prosecutor said the defendant blackmailed his victims into admitting that they were responsible for the death of the man he had faked dead. He threatened to report them to the police and made them cough out N9 million through prostitution as a cover up for their ‘deeds’.

“The complainants were able to escape from where they were held hostage and alerted the police, but the defendant’s accomplices, however, escaped arrest,” the prosecutor said, adding that the offences contravened Sections 411, 261, 265, 268 and 287 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 (Revised).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that both Sections 261 and 265 attract life imprisonment for the offences of sexual assault by penetration and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. NAN also reports that Section 268 carries seven years’ jail term for the offence of abduction, while Section 287 prescribes three years for stealing.

The defendant was granted bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties each in like sum. Chief Magistrate Oluwatoyin Oghere warned that one of the sureties must be a blood relation and adjourned the case until January 30 for mention.

In another development, the Anglican Church and Hausa Christian community in Kubau Local Government Area, Kaduna State, have raised an alarm over the abduction of a teenager who was forcefully married out to one of the kidnappers.

In a protest by the members of the Christian community in Gidan Dio Nasarawa, Kubau Council Area, the Anglican Bishop of Ikara Diocese, Rt Reverend Yusuf Ishaya Janfalan and officials of the Hausa Christians Foundation (HACFO) said the minor, Safiya Amos, who was abducted after the new year celebrations on January 5, was forcefully given out in marriage to her abductors. He called for government’s immediate intervention for her release to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Amos Chindo.

According to a statement issued yesterday, the Anglican Church and HACFO officials said: “While people are praying for good things to come their way in 2020, the family of Mr. Amos and Mrs. Lydia Chindo of Gidan Dio, Nassarawa Tudun Wada Anchau, Kubau LGA of Kaduna State, was greeted with an unpleasant and devastating event four days after the New Year celebration.

“Sadiya Amos went missing on the night of January 5. On January 7, Mr. Amos Chindo was forced to go to a Sharia court in Anchau without knowing any offences he committed. On getting there, a self-acclaimed lawyer together with the Sharia Court judge threatened him on the falsehood that he was preventing his daughter Sadiya from converting to Islam. The lawyer with the judge forged a birth certificate and raised Sadiya’s age from less than 17 to 19 to support their claim.

“The said lawyer who claimed to be advocating for Sadiya refused the father access to his daughter or to even to know her whereabouts. After all the threat, they adjourned the illegal trial to January 14. The Anglican Bishop of Ikara Diocese been the presiding bishop of the church that Amos’ family attend, delegated priests to the court on adjourned date to call the court to order on the fact that both Sadiya and her parents are Christians and the court being a Sharia court lacks the jurisdiction to judge Christians out of duress.

“On January 14, the judge didn’t listen to them or even gave them the chance to speak. Instead, the Sharia judge went ahead to read his predetermined judgment and closed the case without Sadiya in court. Both the Hausa Christians Foundation (HACFO) and Ikara Anglican Diocese requested for the copy of the judgment from the court but it was denied to us.

“All efforts to know the whereabouts of Sadiya and return her back to her parents have proved abortive. As at this report, Sadiya was abducted, converted to Islam, denied access to her parents and married off without the consent of her parents,” the statement noted.

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