Captives plead with FG to release remaining victims
Security forces have full freedom to deal with bandits – Buhari
Train service to resume after release of all abducted passengers – FG
BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Terrorists on Tuesday released five more kidnapped passengers of the ill-fated Kaduna-bound train.
This brings the number of those released by the terrorists to 37, leaving 35 others in captivity.
Though Security agencies were yet to confirm the development, a member of the negotiating team, Tukur Mamu told journalists that the victims were released on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.
He gave the names of the five released hostages as Professor Mustapha Umar Imam, who is medical doctor at Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto; Akibu Lawal, Abubakar Ahmed Rufai Mukthar Shu’aibu and Sidi Aminu Sharif.
He said that he played a prominent role in the release of the train victims, stating that he has backed out due to threats to his life, personal integrity and lack of support from the Federal Government.
It is however not clear if any money was paid to the terrorists to release their abducted victims.
However, the five passengers who regained freedom on Tuesday have begged the government to rescue the remaining victims in captivity because they were in dire need of food and medication.
All the freshly released victims expressed gratitude to Allah and thanked Tukur Mamu for the role he had played while negotiating with their captors.
They said they would never even wish their enemies to be in the terrorists den.
Speaking in an interview, Mustapha Umar Imam said “I am an Associate Professor of Medical Biochemistry in Usman Danfodio University Sokoto.”
Commenting on life in the terrorists den, he said “the situation is really, really dire and terrible. My experience is really terrible; you can see I just finished shedding tears, tears of joy that I’m going to be reunited with my family very soon.
“Quite frankly the experience I’ve gone through in the last four months is not something I will even wish my enemy to go through .There was barely no food to eat, we were hungry for the last three and half months. We were quite surprised in the last two weeks that they started bringing food stuff. We were OK in the last two weeks. But we were very, very hungry for the first three and a half months.
“When I say very hungry, this is an understatement. There were days that we actually ate once. Just imagine there were children just one-year-old, there was a 90- year-old person just feeding once a day. You can imagine that.
“When you talk about medication, I was literally the Medical Doctor on camp. I was treating the captives as well as the bandits, the Boko Haram members.
“There wasn’t medication to be frank with you. On the radio somebody was claiming they would bring medication whenever it was needed, there wasn’t medication on camp.
“There was a day a particular lady had malaria, you could treat malaria with N1, 000.00. But this lady was literally going into a coma because there wasn’t any medication for malaria.
“I personally did not experience any molestation, but some women on camp claimed there were attempts at molestation. But I personally did not experience any. This happened one to two weeks after we were held captive.”
Umar Imam called on the government to do whatever is possible to rescue the remaining captives who he said, were in a very terrible situation. They are very hungry and there is no medication for them,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday that the Federal Government has given security forces full freedom to deal with bandits and bring an end to “their madness” across the country.
His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said President Muhammadu Buhari stated this while reviewing situation on the recent barbaric terrorist attacks in Sokoto, Kaduna and Plateau States.
While paying his condolences to those who lost their loved ones in the attacks, Shehu said the President assured of all possible support from the Federal Government to the states, adding that “we have given security forces full freedom to deal with, and bring to end this madness.”
“I condemn these barbaric attacks on the country. I wish to assure the states of all possible support from the government of the federation. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly,” said the President.
Gunmen had on March 28 blown up the rail track, killing some and abducting scores of passengers, a situation that called for serious concern about the safety of the nation’s trains.
In another development, the Abuja-Kaduna train service would resume commercial activities after all the passengers kidnapped bandits in the attack on the train four months ago have been rescued and reunited with their families.
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, disclosed this on Tuesday while inspecting the railway facility at Idu, Abuja.
Sambo stated that “it is very important to get those Nigerians that have been kidnapped reunited with their families before the train service will resume.
“I think it is important to do that first and foremost. Secondly, we must put in place adequate security and infrastructural measures to protect and prevent all forms of threats that are possible and leave what we cannot do to God but everything humanly possible must be put in place to ensure that the recurrence of this nature is automatically eliminated forever.
“Technology can make that possible and we are trying to deploy the best technology available anywhere in the world that has served very well in other jurisdictions which we believe can also serve us very well in Nigeria.
“We are in the process of procuring the sensors and that is why I said we must ensure that we put in place every infrastructure that will ensure that lives are safeguarded.
“So, the technology that is going to be deployed is such that you can perceive a threat and eliminate it before you get to the location; that is being proactive,” he stated.
The minister further explained that “to save the lives of Nigerians is the topmost priority of the government. This railway asset is here to improve the lives of Nigerians. This was the project that was started under the previous administration and unlike the previous administration, we don’t allow any project to be abandoned.
“So, this administration completed it and it’s running it. It is really unfortunate that an attack happened but we must not let that deter us from providing succour to Nigerians.
“The best way to travel as far as I am concerned is by train and by the grace of God, we will make sure the train service resumes but not until those things I mentioned have been achieved.
Rescue or reunion of those that have been kidnapped with their families and put in place technology that will ensure that threats to lives are eliminated,” he stated.
