Families of abducted passengers of the NRC AK9 Abuja- Kaduna train have asked the Federal Government to shelve the plan to resume train services until family members held hostage are rescued.
They also demanded that adequate security measures be put in place to guarantee the safety of prospective passengers before resumption of the train service
on March 28, terrorists have bombed the Kaduna train, killing at least eight persons, injuring 28 and abducting 63 others.
Leaders of the relatives of kidnapped passengers, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh and Dr. Ba’abba Muhammad, made the demands in a statement made available to 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE on Tuesday.
They expressed displeasure with the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi over the manner he has been handling the event since the attack, adding that the government has abandoned those taken hostages from the train attack to their fate.
They said instead of Amaechi to be up and doing to secure the rescue of the kidnapped victims, he was rather pursuing his presidential ambition just a few days after the incident.
The statement reads, “Just a few days after 28th March, Mr. Amaechi was seen running around the Stadium in Port Harcourt where he declared his intention to become the next President of Nigeria. We had expected Mr. Amaechi is seen running around on how to get his abducted passengers rescued, and this is highly disappointing.”
The leaders of the victims’ families said despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) to set up a situation room to feed him with a minute by minute account of rescue efforts of the victims, nothing was forthcoming.
According to the statement, “NRC has neither contacted the relatives of kidnapped victims nor established any situation room as directed by the President.”
Describing this posture as gross incompetence and insensitivity, the leaders of the affected families call for appropriate punishment against the NRC management.
The families lamented that despite the intervention they sought from the National Assembly which they described as the people’s court, they regretted that nothing has been forthcoming from the federal lawmakers.
“We read in the news that one of the two pregnant women in captivity delivered her baby in the forest. Giving birth is supposed to be a moment of joy; how would it have been if this woman delivered her baby in the comfort of a maternity ward? In whose hands? What is the place of birth of this baby, the forest?
“Today marks the 42nd day our loved ones have been held hostage. It has been 42 long days of living in fear, virtually no sleep, no bath, wearing the same clothes, under the scorching sun and rain, and exposed to extreme environmental hazards. The emotional, psychological, mental, and physical torture arising from these conditions are only imaginable.
“Among the abducted passengers are children, some as young as 3 years old, pregnant women, women including an 85-year-old great grandmother, and others. Some of these victims have health challenges requiring daily medications, which they have had no access to in the last 42 harrowing days,” the leaders stated.
They expressed their profound gratitude to Nigerians, elder statesmen, traditional, religious, and community Leaders, and the Nigerian media who have been showing them sympathy all this while.
