By Barnabas Esiet.
“It will be unfair to start train services along the route as families of the kidnapped victims continue to be traumatised by the abduction of their family members, who are still in captivity of the terrorists” Mu’azu Sambo.
The above courageous statement by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, after the Federal executive council meeting on Wednesday August 24, 2022, will forever be remembered by the families of the remaining 23 released captives of the Abuja train attack by terrorists.
Perhaps this happy ending wouldn’t have been possible if the Minister had yielded to mounting pressure to resume train services a few weeks after the attack, despite having taken necessary security precautions to prevent subsequent occurrences.
The Chibouk Girls incident is a grim reminder of how quickly the nation could have moved on and the kidnaped victims left to the mercy of their abductors if the train services had resumed.
The dreaded Boko Haram terrorists had blown up a rail track and bombed the moving train, killing some and abducting more than 60 passengers. The unprecedented attack attracted international and national outrage. Troubled by the situation, the Nigeria Railway Corporation temporarily suspended activities to make way for security agencies to rescue the victims.
Worried family members had protested several times to demand the release of their loved ones to no avail. They also protested initial plans by the government to re-open the Abuja-Kaduna route.
Responding to questions on the suspension of rail services in the aftermath of the March 2022 attack, Sambo noted that two core issues were at the heart of operations.
These, he said, include families traumatised by hostages and the government’s realisation of having surveillance facilities at strategic locations.
The Minister categorically said the Abuja-Kaduna rail line will not resume until all those kidnapped by the terrorists are rescued and reunited with their families.
“I recall that on the first day of my resumption, the families of the victims blocked the road to the office and i made the pledge before God and before them that all power lies with God but I will do everything within my powers to seek for secondary power from almighty God to get their relatives released and reunited with them.” Sambo said
“It will be unfair to start train services along the route as families of the kidnapped victims continue to be traumatised by the abduction of their family members, who are still in captivity of the terrorists,” he stressed.
The terrorists, who attacked the AK9 Train in Kaduna, had before now released hostages in piecemeal with the last release being on August 19, 2022.
The Minister standing his ground may have sent a strong message to the heartless abductors that it’s no longer going to be business as usual and that in no small way set the tone for the negotiations leading to captives being set free.
It therefore, did not come as a surprise when on Wednesday the terrorists finally freed the 23 remaining captives of the Kaduna train attack after much underground work, spearheaded by the Minister of Transportation ‘who worked the talk” in collaboration with other relevant agencies.
Recall that on July 6, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Sambo as Minister of Transportation. Before his appointment as Minister, Sambo held the position of Lagos Area Manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
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