By Awaal Gata
At the backdrop of the twin bomb blasts in Nyanya last month, residents of Gwagwalada have been gripped by fear because of the security vulnerability of the town.
Some residents who spoke to our correspondent yesterday were of the view that Gwagwalada is a chaotic town hosting people from all walks of life; hence the authorities concerned should heightened security surveillance.
Mr. Isah Ayatu, a resident of Kutunku, a shanty in the town, said the fact that it is where the University of Abuja is located, many criminals would be posing as students to carry out nefarious acts.
He said the police and other security agencies should be at alert to avoid the re-occurrence of the sort of incident that happened in Nyanya.
Similarly, another resident of the town, Mrs Rabeca Damidami, said given the town’s strategic position among FCT satellite towns, it may be a target for criminals and terrorists.
She said: “All sorts of people live with us; you wouldn’t know where they came from, you will just see them suddenly and at times they do look suspicious, so the authorities should be up and doing because Gwagwalada has been a bad town.”
However, in an interview with our correspondent, the secretary of the Area Council, Yahaya Usman, said the Abubakar-Jibril Giri-led administration had been doing everything possible to secure lives and property in the town.
He said the administration had been working very closely with traditional leaders to make sure that all new faces were being watched.
He said: “We have also empowered the security agencies to help us in the security watch, and we have been having fantastic result, so the residents should not panic.”
Meanwhile, the Area Council’s Chairman of Police Community Relations Committee (PCRP), Archbishop Chikwendu Nwoha Williams, said residents should all be involved in the security watch, and should duly report and suspicious moves to the relevant authorities.