• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

11 passengers abducted in Kaduna train attack regain freedom

Kaduna train attack: Governance failure, the bane of travel safety in Nigeria

Hostages taken by terrorists who attacked the Kaduna-bound Abuja train AK9 on March 28 have been released, reports are saying.

The release is coming close to 100 days after they were abducted.

Alhaji Tukur Mamu, the negotiator and media consultant to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi – a cleric in the northern part of Nigeria known for communicating with bandits – said the 11 victims were released on Saturday.

Read also: Kaduna train attack eyewitness account: How mobile technology saved lives

The freed hostage include six females and five males, Mamu’s blog, Desert Herald reported. They include Jessy John, Amina Ba’aba Mohammed (Gamba), Rashida Yusuf Busari, Hannah Ajewole and Amina Jibril. Others include Najib Mohammed Daiharu, Gaius Gambo, Hassan Aliyu, Peace A. Boy and Danjuma Sa’idu, Mamu revealed.

It was gathered that the 11 freed hostages are only freed because they are sick while others remain in captivity.

However, Businessday is yet to confirm from the families of the reportedly released hostages.

On March 28, terrorists bombed the Kaduna bound AK9 train, killed many passengers and abducted at least 62 persons. The terrorist had threatened to kill the abducted passengers if the government fail to meet their demands.

Parts of the demands were the unconditional release of their detained children held in an orphanage home in Adamawa State under strict supervision of the Nigerian Army as well as the release of their detained comrade at arms.

But, Mamu did not disclose if the demands of the terrorists were met. The first person to regain freedom after the attack was the managing director of Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Hassan, who was released on April 6. The second person to regain freedom was a pregnant captive, Thamina Mahmood, who was released on compassionate grounds on May 14.