By Iliya Kure
Abductors of the Kaduna-bound train passengers say they are not after ransom money. Although they would not specify their demand, they claimed that Nigerian government knows what they want – threatening to kill all abductees if their demands were not met.
Their position was made known through a video that went viral on Wednesday.
The one-minute twenty-one seconds video was made prior to the release of one of the abductees, Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Mr Alwan Hassan.
One of the bandits, who spoke in Hausa language, said, “You (government) should know that this is just the beginning of what we’re going to do….. Killing them is not a big deal to us. You know what we want and it’s not money. If it’s money, we’ll not be doing this. So, it’s left to you to hasten and do what we need from you if not, we’ll do what we want to do to them. This is our message,” he said.
Earlier, one of the abductors had said the Managing Director was released because of his age and for Ramadan fasting, the Islamic month where Muslims fast for 29 or 30 days.
“We are the people who abducted some people on a train some days back and you can see them. This one here (pointing at Mr Hassan) has been begging us to release him and considering his age and also because of the Ramadan fast, we decided to release him to his relatives.
“But this government should know what it’s doing. It’s nothing. We just decided to let him go. We’ll now let him speak if he has anything to add,” he said.
Mr Hassan, who also spoke in Hausa language, urged the Nigerian government to go into negotiation with the abductors in order to free the remaining abducted passengers.
“Peace be upon you all. I want you to know that the bandits have sympathized with me considering my age, but I also want you to know that I’ve left a lot of people behind (bandits’ camp) and they need urgent help for them to leave this place. I hope that government should reach out to the leaders of these people so that they can discuss and have the captives released in time,” he said.
The BoA Boss was seen standing in front of an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) Machine Vehicle, in between the abductors, who dressed in military camouflage with guns.
The Kaduna -bound train was attacked in the evening while coming from Abuja. The abductors were said to have planted explosives on the rail track and derailed the train from its track, damaging the engine and some coaches.
Government statement says 8 passengers were killed on the spot, several others injured, and unspecified number abducted.