Residents of some villages in Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are gripped by fear, which is spreading with the speed of lightning to neigbouring Abuja communities.
Since Monday, August 19, when a group of unusual men were sighted by villagers hurriedly disembarking from a helicopter in a bush around Gumbo Ward, residents of Piri village and nearby communities recoil into their homes in horror at dusk and sleep with one eye open.
The ash-colour helicopter had hovered round the bush before landing at about 4.15pm on Monday, locals told security authorities.
Fear-stricken Umar Gbango, the traditional ruler (Sarkin) of Piri Village made a distress call to the police at about 4.30pm, a few minutes after the helicopter had dropped off the odd men in the bush and disappeared.
Police detectives who were mobilized to the scene reportedly confirmed from the villagers that a helicopter landed in the bush and dropped some men, prompting a further deployment of surveillance and patrol teams to the area in a proactive security measure.
However, the residents say they had become an endangered species, drawing from the experience of residents of Rim, Goon and other settlements in Janda, Rim District of Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where blood and sorrow stared the inhabitants and visitors as a sad reminder of the innocent souls who perished in gruesome circumstances.
More than two decades after, the inhabitants of the communities who survived the onslaught, particularly Jol and Rim, the traditional headquarters of the district, still watch their shadows as they take a step.
The sight of a hovering helicopter which allegedly dropped men and weapons at Mahanga, a Fulani settlement perched atop a hill close to Rim, a community located four kilometres away, had constantly roamed their mental landscapes.
“Mahanga is the headquarters of Fulani operations in the middle belt, a camp for Fulani warfare, where sophisticated arms and ammunition are warehoused; it is from there that they plan and attack targeted communities in the North Central states, including southern Kaduna. It had been the situation over the years”, said Joseph, a 56-year-old villager who does not want to be properly identified.
“A helicopter usually landed there to drop arms; it regularly landed at midnight, as from 12.30am, and the security agencies have the intelligence report. It also landed at Sagas in Fan district of Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State”, says Makum, another local.
While the residents of Piri Village and neighbouring Abuja communities heaved a sigh of relief with the deployment of police patrol teams after the strange helicopter incident, they say the atmosphere presently hanging over them is that of an eerie peace.
