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Shittu Adebayo narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt in February. The 40-year-old signage writer was returning from work around 8 p.m. when his car came under gunfire less than 200 metres to his house. The house is in an estate in Pegi, a community in Kuje area council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Mr Adebayo abandoned his car and fled into the bush, keeping to a footpath that led to the fence of the estate.
“They eventually turned back when they saw that I was approaching the estate gate. Police and other people that heard the gunshots were already waiting for me in the estate,” he narrated to our reporter in February, as he showed pictures of his bullet-riddled and blood-stained car.
Edwin Obiekwe, 65, had a similar experience seven days earlier but was not as lucky as Mr Adebayo. He had instinctively turned off his car’s engine when he saw two men shooting at his vehicle.
“I turned off my engine and laid down in the bush behind my car. But the two men came flashing their torchlights. They found me and led me into the bush to join six other people they had kidnapped,” he recalled.
“I told them I was coming from Jabi where I went to collect money from my brother to eat. They asked how much? I said N20,000. They forced their hands into my pocket and took all the money, my eye glasses, handkerchief and car key.”
Mr Obiekwe said the robbers then released him when they noticed his poor health.
Kidnap-for-ransom in Pegi
Despite housing a division of the Nigerian police and a naval barracks, kidnap-for-ransom is rife in Pegi.
