At least seven people have been abducted from Gidan-Bijimi in Abuja after armed bandits stormed the village located in Kawu ward of Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)  on Wednesday.

Daily Trust reported that the incident occurred around 10p.m. on Wednesday when armed gunmen stormed the village alongside the border of Abuja and Kaduna state, shooting indiscriminately before whisking away seven residents. 

Suleiman Shuaibu, a man whose cousin was among the individuals who were kidnapped by the perpetrators, confirmed that the victims included a 16-year-old boy and six girls aged between 17 and 23 years. 

“It was around 9:53 pm when a call came from the Gidan-Bijimi community that some bandits invaded the village and abducted six young girls, unfortunately my cousin sister happened to be among the victims,” Mr Shuaibu stated.

He added that some vigilantes in the community attempted to resist bandits but were quickly overpowered by the gangs’ superior firearm. 

The abduction came barely 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency amid the recent spike in bandits attacks across the country, including in Kwara, Niger and Kebbi states.

In his emergency declaration, Mr Tinubu ordered the immediate recruitment of 20,000 and 30,000 officers into the Nigerian Police Force and the Armed Forces respectively, with National Youth Service Corps camps converted into training depots. 

He also ordered the withdrawal of police escorts from high profile individuals back into primary duties while ordering the State Security Service to deploy security operatives into the forest to flush out bandits from their hideouts.