Armed assailants suspected to be kidnappers unleashed terror on the quiet Zhibi community, a Niger State settlement hugging the fringes of Dei-Dei town in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, abducting a local businessman and his two young daughters in midnight attack.
The harrowing incident unfolded around midnight on Friday, shattering the peace of the Tafa Local Government Area.
Victims Muhammad Shuaibu, a 45-year-old trader known for his bustling shop in nearby markets, and his daughters – one a 200-level university student – were dragged from their family home as gunmen overpowered security barriers with ruthless efficiency.
Family members, speaking exclusively to Daily Trust, painted a chilling picture of the invasion. The attackers, numbering at least five and heavily armed, breached the compound by smashing the backyard door’s burglar-proof padlock. “They did the same thing in the room where the wife of the family head was sleeping,” a close relative recounted, voice trembling with the memory. “She woke up suddenly to see them inside her room, so she quickly ran toward her husband’s room. They summoned all the family members to the sitting room, threatening to take all of them. But the wife knelt down and kept pleading with them to spare her baby. That made them spare her and the baby.”
According to reports, the gunmen confiscated the couple’s mobile phones before ransacking the kitchen. “They demanded food items, which were reportedly not available in the house at the time,” the source added.
Zhibi’s understaffed police outpost, with just a “handful of officers,” offered scant protection, residents lamented. They leveled sharp accusations at the adjacent Dei-Dei Police Division in the FCT, claiming officers rebuffed urgent pleas for help, citing jurisdictional boundaries with Niger State. “This back-and-forth is costing lives,” one community elder said.
By Monday afternoon, no ransom demands had surfaced. “We’re praying for a miracle,” a sibling whispered, as search parties scoured bush paths in vain.
A senior police officer in the region confirmed the abduction to reporters, vowing action: “Efforts were ongoing to track down the perpetrators.” Yet, with no breakthroughs, locals’ pleas grew urgent.
They implored the Niger State Government and FCT Administration to forge unified security patrols, warning, “Before the situation escalates further, we need real protection – not excuses.”