Troops from the 401 Special Forces Brigade of the Nigerian Army, in collaboration with Sector One, successfully rescued a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and six other kidnapped victims in Tse-Annaka, along the Wukari\/Zaki-Biam route, located in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.<\/p>\n
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The NYSC member, identified as 29-year-old law graduate Samuel Muekara, was one of the seven victims liberated during the operation. The other rescued individuals, all kidnapped at various times from the same region, include Anaelechi Bob (32), Ayuba Luka (28), Ibrahim Umar (30), Rabiu Muhammad (48), Buhari Ahmadu Saleh (17), and Blessing Ayuba (47).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A security personnel, speaking anonymously with DAILY POST, identified the criminal gangs terrorizing the Sankara region as \u201cFull Fire,\u201d Ayongo, and Chen, all former associates of the late Benue criminal kingpin, Terwase Akwaza, also known as Gana.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThese notorious armed bandits are well known to the local communities, yet any attempt to gather intelligence from the people is met with silence. The people claim ignorance of their activities, but they know them well,\u201d the security officer said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He emphasized the need for collective responsibility in addressing security issues, urging the local population to provide critical information to security agencies. \u201cSecurity is a collective effort, and communities must always volunteer information to help security forces, particularly the military, in apprehending these criminals,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the rescued victims, now safe at a military camp in Zaki-Biam, Ukum Local Government Area, recounted their harrowing experiences. They described being held hostage for days by heavily armed kidnappers who operate freely within local settlements like Chito, Adamawa, Atereyange, Ututu, and Pevkyaa\u2014all in Ukum LGA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThese armed bandits have turned kidnapping into their primary source of income, conducting their operations in broad daylight without fear,\u201d said one of the victims. \u201cThey live with their families, and these families often brought us food. People in the area are aware of the kidnappers\u2019 activities but are too afraid to report them, fearing for their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rabiu Muhammad, one of the victims, revealed that he had initially come to pay a ransom for his cousin, Ibrahim Umar, only to be kidnapped himself after delivering the money. Similarly, Blessing Ayuba was abducted while trying to pay the ransom for her son, Luka Ayuba.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The rescued corps member, Samuel Muekara, disclosed that despite families of the seven victims raising over N20 million and paying the ransom, the group remained in captivity until military forces intervened and secured their release.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Troops from the 401 Special Forces Brigade of the Nigerian Army, in collaboration with Sector One, successfully rescued a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and six other kidnapped victims in Tse-Annaka, along the Wukari\/Zaki-Biam route, located in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State. The NYSC member, identified as 29-year-old law graduate Samuel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":51019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-51018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51020,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51018\/revisions\/51020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}