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FEATURES
Monday’s attack on a passenger train around Kateri-Rijana axis in Kaduna, leading to the killing of some passengers and abduction of others, have once again thrown up the issue of insecurity which has ravaged the country. Ferdinand Ekechukwu reports
Farida Sule Mohammed, a 29-year-old lawyer boarded the Abuja to Kaduna train last Monday night, hoping to join her family in about two hours in Kaduna. It did not happen. Farida was one of the eight passengers killed when terrorists attacked the train with 369 passengers on-board. Farida, like many others, left home without any iota of what was to happen. The deceased was the daughter of the National Organising Secretary of the Peoples Redemption Party, Mallam Sule Mohammed.
Farida’s death was confirmed by Babatunde Alli, PRP National Secretary: “Our Chairman, Mallam Falalu Bello OFR, and the father of this slain heroine are currently at the hospital to collect the corpse. This indeed is a sober moment for the entire PRP family. While asking the Almighty Allah to grant her soul eternal rest, and to bring an end to evil in our nation, let us please remember this great family in our prayers”
A friend, Zahida Barau on Twitter described the late Farida as a good person with a good heart. “Innalillahi wa inna alaihi rajiun. We lost Farida yesterday in the kaduna-Abuja train attack. I believe she’s in a better place now. She was a very good person with a good heart. Halinki nagari ya biki Farida. Allah ka isar mana. The blood of the innocent will never go in vain. Please pray for my friend,” she wrote.
The Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, Barrister Musa-Lawal Ozigi, was another passenger killed. President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, who confirmed the killing of Ozigi said he was killed alongside the Kwara State Chairman of the union, Comrade Akin Akinsola.
According to Olaleye, they were on their way to Kaduna for an official assignment slated for Tuesday, 29 March 2022.
A medical doctor working with Saint Gerald Hospital Kaduna, Dr. Chinelo Megafu Nwando was also among those killed by the terrorists. The Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kaduna branch, Dr. Aisha Mustapha confirmed the death of the dentist saying she was to leave for Canada in few days time.
A Director with the National Board for Tecnical Education (NBTE), Abdu Isa Kofa Mata, was another passenger killed by the terrorist.
One Maiwada Dammallam, a friend to the 55-year-old father of five, said they both communicated on Monday morning, before the ill-fated journey. Similarly, a director at the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Abdu Isa Kofarmata was killed by the terrorists. Family sources described the deceased as an easy-going man.
Some passengers were lucky. A former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Malam Ibrahim Wakkala, was shot during the attack but survived. Another victim, Muhammad Amin Mahmood, an aspirant in the just-concluded National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Northwest Zonal Youth Leadership, was also shot and survived.
Among those abducted was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Hassan. Also taken away by the terrorists was, Sadiq, the son of Professor Ango Abdullahi, the Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). A Nigerian woman identified as Maryam Bobbo, her husband and children was declared missing following the attack.
Twitter user @Muazzamz who disclosed this on Twitter wrote; ‘’Maryam Bobbo, her husband & children still missing from what happened last night during the train attack may Allah SWT bring them back alive & healthy’’.
Many passengers who escaped by the whiskers narrated their experiences. One of them, who identified himself as Sani Carpenter, said he escaped hours after he and several other passengers were kidnapped.
He said he hid in the forest and waited for security agents who accompanied the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police to reveal himself. Narrating his ordeal, he said, “The terrorists took me along with other passengers when they attacked the train in their large numbers, but as they were taking us into the bush, I managed to run away. They took many people away but I escaped through the darkness into the bush. While I was roaming in the bush, I saw security agencies that came this morning (Tuesday) to the scene so they picked me.”
As of last Tuesday morning, 41 victims who sustained gunshot wounds were receiving treatment at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, and St. Gerald Hospital, both in Kaduna.
A survivor recounted her ordeal, saying terrorists were shouting ‘Allahuhakubar’ as they shot sporadically. Speaking to journalists on her hospital bed, one of the survivors, Maimuna Ibrahim, who was shot on the thigh, said it was a horrible experience. “We saw hell, I prayed and prayed and prayed”, she said. “I went to a workshop in Abuja in the morning and I was on my way back to Kaduna that same day after the workshop,” she narrated.
She added that “I was shot on the thigh. But the bullet did not touch my bone. The bullet penetrated out of my thigh. Honestly, we suffered seriously, but thank God soldiers came and they really helped us.” Maimuna who was unable to walk after she was shot said soldiers had to carry her out of the train to a vehicle by the expressway.
“I was unable to walk; it was the soldiers who carried me on the back to the vehicle that brought us to the hospital. They were able to pass over the cliff, carrying us on their backs! Seriously, they tried because it was not easy climbing the cliff,” she said.
Giving graphic account of the incident, she said, “The terrorists came, were moving about in the train, but they did not come to where I was seated. I was hit by the bullet through the window. They entered SP17. As they were shooting, the police security on the train asked us to lie down on the floor of the train so that the bullet will not get at us. Unfortunately before I could lie down the bullet hit me.”
Another survivor, Fatima Shuaibu, a student of College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kaduna state, who lost her sister in the attack, corroborated Maimuna’s account in a way. “My sister, Zainab Awal, was shot on the stormach and she died,” she said amid tears from her hospital bed. Shuaibu was seated by the window when she started noticing flashes of torch lights.
She said initially, she thought it was the villagers around the area, but when she suddenly heard a loud explosion and the train went off track, she knew there was trouble as her heart started palpitating. “We started shouting and praying. As soon as the train stopped, we started hearing gunshots. The security personnel on the train announced that everybody should lie down on the floor of the train. They attacked the VIP couch, they abducted some people and took them to the bush, [and] they shot other people. They operated for about two hours or so before soldiers and Airforce arrived and they exchanged gunshots.”
The incident has once again thrown up the issue of insecurity which has ravaged the country. The Dutse village is just a few kilometres from the Rigasa Train Station, which was said to be the last transit point of the train.
The bandits were said to have opened fire, shooting sporadically at the train, and later gained access to the train. This attack comes barely six months after the same Abuja-Kaduna rail line was attacked in October 2021.
Quite worrisome is the level of insecurity in the country has risen to alarming rate in recent years. From attacks, kidnappings of school students, banditry along major highways, killings by insurgents to Fulani Herdsmen/indigenous community clashes, living in most regions of the country has become a nightmare. Travelling along many routes in Nigeria has also become unsafe, especially the Abuja-Kaduna highway which is considered the most dangerous route in the country.
The Abuja-Kaduna expressway is notorious for kidnapping and banditry. The expressway, which is the link Abuja and the North-western part of the country, makes a suitable spot for kidnappers because many travellers use the route. The recent attack on the train, a relatively safe means of transport by many, has been described as callous in a statement issued by the presidency after a meeting with the country’s service chiefs.
Since the commencement of rail transportation between Abuja and Kaduna, thousands of travellers have avoided the highway and opted for the train, which appeared safer.
