Families of Abuja-Kaduna Train Attack Victims Plan To Protest In Abuja and Kaduna

Image: AIT Live

The family members and friends of victims kidnapped in the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna AK-9 train are planning to protest in Abuja and Kaduna. The protest is to demand the rescue of their loved ones who are still being held by their abductors. They vowed to cease key government facilities in Abuja and Kaduna because their loved ones have stayed for 94 days in kidnappers’ custody.

The planned protest would commence on Tuesday to coincide with the 100 days of the attack and abduction of the 63 victims.

Our source reported earlier that the bandits released 11 of the 61 victims after almost three months in custody. Fifty victims are still be held hostage by the bandits since the attack on Saturday, June 11.

On Monday, our source reported that one victim was shot by the gunmen of the remaining 50 hostages. The shooting of the victim, Mohammed Al’Amin, led to a public outcry for the Federal Government to speed up every negotiation with the bandit to release the rest of the captives.

Addressing journalist in Kaduna on Thursday, the victims’ families expressed their worries about the fate of their loved ones. They pointed out that some victims reportedly have suffered snake bites and sustained gunshot injuries.

Dr. Abdulaziz Atta spoke on behalf of the families on Thursday, explaining to newsmen that the victims’ families would stag a sit-down and occupy public facilities until the government rescued their loved ones. Dr. Abdulaziz’s mother (85 years old) and elder sister are among the abducted passengers.

“We read from the media report that one of our loved ones, Al-Amin, was shot and that it was an accidental discharge by one of the non-state actors guarding our loved ones. But the key question now is what is the state of health of the person that has gunshot wounds?

“There are no antibiotics and nobody to remove the bullets from his body. Just imagine the current situation he will be in the bush. He needs urgent support. If he is not brought out of the bush, we may lose him.

“To be fair, we are seeing some of the outcomes of the government’s efforts. We have seen 11 of our loved ones that have been released. And from the press statement that was released by Garba Shehu (the President’s spokesman), on behalf of the President, he made it clear that their children were released to them for us to have our loved ones.

“We heard it from the highest authority. We know that the government is working on it. They are working on it but what we are demanding is that they should hasten their release. Every single moment they spend in the bush is dangerous.

“The agents of government that are involved in this negotiation need to do more. What we want simply is that; we want our loved ones out. We have kids, as you have heard earlier on, as young as three years old, and from the feedback we had, these kids are unattended to. We have injured women; we have aged women and men; those people should be brought out.

“By next week Tuesday, which is going to be 100 days that they have been in captive, we are planning to do a physical protest. We will be sitting in key government facilities. We planned to sit there till our loved ones are out. So, we are changing our strategies. We will change our strategy from the media press conference. The media have been excellent to us, but now we are going to move out physically for people to see us on the streets.”

Hajijay Fatima Ciroma, another female family member, said the 94 days the kidnapped victims had spent with their abductors were horrifying.

“The emotional, psychological, mental, and physical torture arising from these conditions can only be imagined,” she added.

She also begged the Federal Government to make the lives and property of Nigerians top priority.

Source

#Abuja-Kaduna

#Train protest

#Train attack victims