Five persons, comprising four male adults and a housewife, drowned while fleeing from bandits who stormed Chakumi village in Gurdi ward of Abaji area council of Abuja and attempted to kidnap them on Wednesday, September 21.
Daily Trust reports that the village chief of Chakumi, Mohammed Magaji, who confirmed the sad incident, said the bandits stormed the village about 11 am. Magaji stated that the deceased victims, including a middle-aged housewife were working on the farm, when they sighted the bandits.
He said they rushed to board the canoe in order to escape to neighbouring Daku village, but in the process of trying to cross the river Gurara, the boat capsized.
“And even as I am talking to you right now, the corpses of the victims have not been recovered yet as fishermen from Daku and my village are still searching for the corpses,” he said.
Magaji, who decried the activities of bandits in the area, said farmers could no longer go to their farms for fear of being kidnapped by bandits.
Vice-Chairman of Abaji LGA, Ibrahim Abubakar, also confirmed the incident, disclosing that one of his relatives was among those who drowned.
“In fact, one of my relatives was among those that got drowned and their bodies are yet to be recovered up till this moment that I am talking to you,” he said.
