Nigeria Under Siege As kidnappers Target Presidency

By Uche Mbah

Security in recent times has taken a dive as kidnappers move up towards what analysts have described as the ultimate humiliation of the Presidency: the kidnapping of the close members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate family.

The latest of these kidnaps has been the kidnap of Musa Umar, an in-law to President Buhari and a District Head of Daura, the President’s home town . Umar, is said to be married to the daughter of Buhari’s sister, Hajiya Bilki.Umar, and doubles as the father of Fatima Musa, wife of Colonel Mohammed Abubakar, the Aide de Camp (ADC) to the President.He is a former customs officer.

Gunmen were said to have stormed his house after the evening muslim prayers, shooting sporadically in the air. They allegedly dragged him into their waiting car and drove away.

Already Kaduna-Abuja road has been taken over by these kidnappers with the security agencies looking on in apparent helplessness. In fact, some senior police officers abducted recently were released by the alleged payment of N60 million ransom. Reports indicate that the Kaduna-Abuja road was earlier in the week cordoned off by kidnappers, with motorists stranded and trying to escape from the route.

As it stands now, the trains plying Abuja-Kaduna route are always overbooked, with top executives preferring to stand in the train to Abuja than travel on road. Only recently, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Adamu Mohamed, had to redeploy senior police officers in a bid to inject new blood to the security war but it appears not to be yielding results.

In the midst of these, President Buhari jetted out to London on what his Aids called a private visit without transmitting any letter to the senate to officially hand over to Vice president Yemi Osinbajo. His aids are allegedly issuing orders on his behalf, like,For example, the current massive redeployment of staff and personnel in Aso rock in what some analysts regard as weeding out disloyal elements in his vicinity.

He was said to have become jittery because he lost to Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, in his own ward in Aso Villa. . Therefore, the current shake up among the staff is borne out of the fear. many are being deployed to the office of the Chief of staff, Aba kyari, who is expected to keep an eye on them.

Besides kidnapping, the activities of Bandits and Fulani herdsmen-it is becoming difficult to separate the two groups-is also on the rise. and Boko Haram continues to sack more cities despite presidential assurance that they have been decimated.