FCT Police Debunks News Of Planned Terrorist Attacks In Abuja, Beefs Up Security

The  Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command of Nigeria Police has dismissed reports circulating online of a planned attack by terrorists on specific targets in the nation's capital.

A ‘Security alert’ posted across various social media handles had warned of imminent terrorist attacks in the FCT.

Spokesperson of the command, DSP Josephine Adeh, in a statement on Thursday night, July 21, described the reports as "erroneous news as a product of misguided and attention-seeking individuals".

The PPRO urged residents to go about their legitimate duties without fear of being attacked, adding that the command has made additional deployments of personnel to the areas mentioned and conducting intensified surveillance and monitoring to forestall any attack.

"The attention of the Federal Capital Territory Police (FCT) Command has been drawn to a series of misleading writeups tagged “security alert” in circulation on the popular social media platform WhatsApp and many others, suggesting an ongoing plan and coordination of a terrorist attack on some areas, social, and critical infrastructures in the FCT," the statement read.

"The erroneous news is a product of misguided and attention-seeking individuals, targeted at promoting panic and apprehension in the minds of residents. It is unfounded and should be disregarded as the mountains and hills so mentioned have in recent times witnessed heavy deployment of Tactical and Intelligence assets of the Police and Sister security agencies sweeping through them on intelligence gathering routines exercises and dislodging the possible habitation of criminal elements, an exercise which is promised to be sustained.

"While Critically investigating the assertion with a view to ascertain its root cause and validity, It has been discovered that hunting activities have been one of the misinterpreted activities on the hills and mountains in some of the areas so mentioned. therefore, the Police in collaboration with traditional authorities of these areas have suspended such activities in a bid to douse public apprehension. Also, Prior to the emergence of these erroneous writeups, the police and sister security agencies in a bid to proactively secure these infrastructures have made adequate deployment of human and material resources whose presence could have been erroneously summarized as a preparation for an envisaged Terrorist attack.

"Consequent upon the above, the FCT Commissioner of Police CP Babaji Sunday psc while reassuring residents of the command’s unflinching commitment to bringing crime and criminality in the Territory to its barest minimum, wishes to state that these areas and the FCT as a whole is safe. He, therefore, urges members of the public to go about their lawful duties without the fear of harassment or molestation of any kind and from any quarters.

To Complement the above, additional deployments have been made to the areas mentioned in the viral writeups amidst intensified surveillance and monitoring. Residents are therefore urged to remain vigilant, and report any suspicious or abnormal occurrence to the Police through the following emergency lines: 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883, while the Public Complaint Bureau (PCB) desk, could be reached on: 0902 222 2352"