Around a residential suburb of the FCT, the Saburi residential district in DeiDei area of Abuja, residents are now living in palpable fear following renewed activities of hoodlums.
According to a daily post report, the hoodlums send scavengers to survey the area before striking.
The gunmen have attacked the area about thrice since January 1 and made away with valuables, and money worth millions of Naira, residents disclose.
It was gathered that some of the gunmen who were masked first attacked the area during the crossover night on December 31, 2024, while residents were returning from church.
The gunmen specifically attacked houses in Ikejani street, Osumeayi Street, Sani Abacha lane, and Saburi.
During the attack, the hoodlums attempted to destroy the eyes of a security man in a failed move to eliminate him. They also shot at a resident who tried to prevent them from gaining access into his compound.
A resident, who wished to be anonymous, disclosed that Saburi used to be synonymous with kidnapping.
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He said to curb the menace, residents mounted three gates at various locations around the community.
“We had three gates due to rampant kidnappings. Every two or three days they would pick somebody.
“Now, they have resorted to armed robbery.
“Only God can help because when people more than 20 with guns invade a place what can you do? I believe they collaborated with some boys from here and those from Saburi to carry out the attack,” he disclosed.
The security guard on duty, Sunday Ogbor, recounted how they attempted to kill him by cutting through his face and leaving him for dead.
“I was at the security house when I heard voices and I thought they were my fellow guards who usually come by 3am to call my attention to ring the security bell.
“When I came out with my gun and knife, they collected them and started hitting me on my head, one jumped on my chest, while another tied me.
“While they were rough-handling me, I was shouting and they kept hitting me, they used the knife to cut me from my ear through my eyes to my other ear.
“After the incident, some people came and rushed me to hospital. Now, I can’t see properly.”
Another resident, Gift Udago of Sani Abacha lane in Saburi recalled how the boys numbering over 30 invaded his house, broke his window protector and used a matchet on his doors in an attempt to rob him and his tenants.
“Early in the morning on Monday, the boys about 30 pushed down my gate and came inside.
“I looked out the window and saw that they were many, I didn’t know what to do, even the tenants were all scared that night because they came with matchets, axes, and guns.
“They were shouting ‘where is the money – your money and your phones’ – they packed a lot of things after scattering my things, including my door.
“That night was so terrible for me because I have never experienced such in my life.
“This is not the first time; on 31 December, 2024, the same boys attacked the other side of Saburi, on 15th of January they also attacked the Four Bedroom area of Saburi, they even shot somebody on his leg.
“These are the issues we are facing and we are praying that the government will address it,” he said.
The Women Leader of Saburi, Princess Amaka Chijioke said the boys had information that she withdrew a large volume of money, which they made away with.
She said: “I have had an experience with these boys three times. The first one was terrible because they just jumped inside my room. I had just lost a son then.
“They threatened to murder my second son the way the first died, after which they carried everything.
“They came informed I had withdrawn money from the bank, which I kept in my room. While I tried to hide the money in the toilet, one of them smartly followed me and carried the bag.
“The moment God removed them from my room, I picked my son and ran to one of my tenants.
“The fact is that when they were robbing me, the tenants were not even aware of it. There were about 20 people that invaded the compound.
“We are asking the government to come to our aid because this is too much, they use machetes and guns, they shot somebody the day before yesterday. It’s not an experience somebody wants to narrate.”
Police failed to respond – Residents alleged
Meanwhile, the residents are worried over the alleged failure of the police to
respond to their calls.
One of them said: “Our police here have not really helped. We have a situation where it will take the police close to an hour before they will come and by then the robbers have finished all they want to do and have gone. The police will come to meet residents in agony and pain.
“From January 15, we no longer sleep and have decided to turn ourselves into security men and women. We come out in the night to guard our streets.
“Saburi residential area is under attack and needs the government’s intervention.
“We have a situation where armed robbers will be attacking and when you call the closest police station, they will tell you it’s not within their area of jurisdiction.
“We also have policemen and Army guarding the railway, the distance to where this robbery took place is just like a pole, but you will never see the police or Army at the railway trying to intervene, they simply maintain the railway station.”
The Vice Chairman of Saburi residential district, Engr Gerald Aziegbe lamented that there is no strong police presence in the locality.
He said: “We wouldn’t say that we have a strong police presence here because this is the fifth time we have been robbed here and there is no police presence.
“Nobody was apprehended, they succeeded and left. For the fifth time in more than three years, they succeeded, so I wouldn’t say we have a strong police presence here.”
Similarly, the Chairman of 4Bedroom Area of Saburi, Anyanwu Ugonna lamented the refusal of police officers stationed within Saburi to respond to their distress call.
Ugonna said the police officers claimed that the robbery spot was outside their coverage area.
“On January 25, 2025, around 1.55 am, we heard a gunshot at the back of the house and on peeping through the window, I saw about 15 men trying to scale through the fence and enter some of the buildings in the compound.
“I alerted my neighbours. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that they were already approaching our own gate.
“On sighting us, the only thing I heard was ‘shoot’ and they shot. I was trying to retreat when I heard a gunshot and I felt my leg was heavy. The person with me was running and I was telling him that I was wounded but we went through the fence at the back of the building.
“We tried contacting the police, the ones that are very close to us; what we heard was that they are not the ones in charge of this area. At about 3:45 am, the GwaGwa police came but the boys had left.
“The police station in Saburi is closer than GwaGwa yet they refused to come because it’s not their area.”
Involvement of scavengers (Baban Bola)
Ugonna also disclosed that the boys first disguise themselves in the form of scavengers (Baban Bola) to survey the area before coming back in the night to strike.
He added: “Like I said, this place has been robbed like five or six times and in most cases, you will find out that there is always someone who has come to do surveillance and when they come most times, they come in the form of buying or selling something, while others come in the name of scavengers to pick things from the dust bin.
“This was the major reason we stopped residents from dumping refuse within the residence; we have noticed that there is a link between them.”
Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations of the FCT Command, Josephine Adeh to get her comment proved abortive as she didn’t answer her calls nor respond to message sent to her mobile contact as of the time of filing this report
