Relations of Kidnapped Kaduna Train Passengers Issue 72-hour Ultimatum to FG

John Shiklam

Relations of kidnapped victims of the March 28, terror attack on Abuja-Kaduna train, have given the federal government a 72-hour ultimatum to ensure the safe rescue of their beloved ones from the terrorists, else, they would take initiative independent of the government.

The ultimatum was issued at the end of their meeting yesterday in Kaduna.

Speaking on behalf of others, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh, said they were yet to established contact with their beloved ones or even the criminals since the incident.

He warned that they would be left with no option than to decide on how to rescue their love ones if the government failed to take urgent steps to free them.

The relations accused the federal government of insensitivity towards the plights of the victims two weeks after the incident.

Jimoh said since the incident, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) had yet to reach out to family of the victims to brief them on efforts being made to rescue them.

He urged the government to negotiate with the terrorists as they demanded in a recent viral video, so as to secure the release of their people alive.

Jimoh said: “This incident happened on the 28 of March, a day or two after, the kidnappers said that we should be ready, that they are going to contact us. And we have not heard any communication from them since then.

“Since this incident happened, we expected that by now, the government, the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Federal Ministry of Transportation, are supposed to have identified relatives of the victims to tell us what effort they are making or not to rescue our loved ones unhurt.

“In fact, the primary duty of any government is to protect lives and property of citizens. We believe our government can do it and it’s capable of doing it, until a few days ago we had been expecting telephone calls from the abductors, because that’s what they promised us but when we saw the video, they made it very clear that they want to discuss with the government; that they have something with the government.

“We don’t know what they want from the government. But it is now an opportunity and a window for the government to rescue our loved ones by opening channel of communication with them. This is not out of place. It is done anywhere in the world.

“Even the US, Israel and the most powerful nations of the world, they do negotiate when they have issues like this to preserve the lives of their citizens. This, we know our government can do and we are appealing to them to do it. We don’t know what is between them but it is something that can be resolved in the interest of the lives of Nigerian citizens. Life is very sacred even if it is one life that’s involved.

“We are appealing to Nigeria government to do everything within its powers and it is something that’s not beyond the government to do. We are appealing to them to come out to open channel of discussion with the bandits and get our loved ones out as quickly as possible.

“We have been in serious anguish in the past 15 days. Many of us have not been sleeping, we have not been sleeping. We are like living corpses. We have decided collectively that we are giving government 72-hours to do everything that’s necessary to rescue our love ones,” he said.