25th July, 2022
Relatives of the abducted victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack gathered outside the headquarters of Federal Ministry of Transportation on Monday, urging the government to rescue the kidnapped passengers.
This comes a day after the abductors, terrorists in disguise, released a video flogging the male victims and threatening to kidnap President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
According to reports, relations of the victims arrived at the ministry at 6 a.m today and have vowed not to leave until the Federal Government bring back their loved ones.
They carried banners and placards with inscriptions like “Please Buhari help us”, “#FreeKadunatrainattackvictims”, “the victims are dying in captivity” etc
On March 28, a Kaduna-bound train from Abuja was attacked by terrorists.
They killed nine of the victims and abducted 60 of them.
No fewer than 20 of the victims have been released in batches after the payment of N100m ransom each.
Daily Trust reported that the beating of victims by terrorists was triggered by anger over the blockade of a ransom in exchange for some of the captives.
A victim filmed in the video clip, Mukhtar Shuaibu, confirmed the terrorists’ disenchantment over the blockade of the ransom.
“We don’t know what offence we have committed to the government of this country. We were born in this country. We have been here for 120 days, yet the government has been unable to rescue us.
“What is our offence to this country? Some of us were to be released recently but security agents blocked the access and refused to let our relatives come for us,” he said.