- How Government Bureaucracy Delayed Approval Of Security Apparatus- Amaechi
- Again, Terrorists Hit Kaduna Train Station In Fresh Attack
While unconfirmed figures put the number of dead Nigerians in the Kaduna-Abuja Train attack at 8 and 29 wounded, those who survived the ordeal have been reliving the horror of their close encounter with death.
One thing that many of the survivors agreed upon was that those who perpetrated the attack were not older than 18-22 years of age.
They also recounted the moments before the horror began.
The survivors said they heard a deafening sound and the train started wobbling before it finally came to a halt.
The terrorists, they recalled, started shooting sporadically at the train.
One of the survivors, Maimuna Ibrahim, said: “This is my leg where the bullet entered, though it didn’t touch my bone, it came out. That is the only thing I can remember but I just know that we suffered again we are thankful to the Nigerian Army and the police they really helped us because they brought us to the hospital.
“I didn’t sit by the window side. It was inside. The terrorists entered the train but they didn’t reach my own side. It was bullets that just hit people.
“They entered SP 17 when they entered, we were looking at them while we laid down because they asked us to lie down. The police in the train were the ones that told us to lay down so that bullet will not hit us and that is why the bullet hit me. I didn’t know that we were to lie down.
“They are young guys, small boys, they should be between 18-20, and they are like Fulani but not Nigerians. Some of them have turbans on their heads and they were chanting Allahu Akbar. We even saw when they were abducting some people, they were driving them out of the train and went away with them.
Another survivor, Muhammadu Ishaq, said: “We heard a loud voice of something, then the train started shaking then suddenly it stopped. Then we started hearing gunshots from every angle.
“Then police that was inside the train they ran and came out and started firing back. They told us to all lie down in the train. The police went through the front to fire back at them but they followed through the back Coach 17.
“Then they broke the door with guns and they gained access. Then they said everyone should come out, then me when I saw that they have successfully entered the train. Then we started running from coach 17 to 16, 15, and so on and so on.
“As I was running for my life, then I noticed I shot on my hand, then I held my hand to continue running. I didn’t even know it was a gunshot. But I know something hit me and then I held the place. It was when I was soaked with blood, I knew it was a gunshot.
“Then we laid down and prayed but was still hearing gunshots for like one and half hour, then we started hearing the soldiers from far and they started shooting them back.”
Another survivor, Fatima Shuaibu, a student, said: “I was sitting close to the window. They just threw something like a bomb and the train started shaking. Then the train tried to fall down, after then when the train has stopped, they started shooting. So, they broke the door of the train on the VIP side, so they came inside, carry some people, shoot some, went away with some, and took them through the bush before the security came like one hour thirty minutes after the attack, over 500 securities came and saved us.
“I was inside the VIP coach; they were targeting the VIP coach. After that they targeted the economy side, SP 17 shot many people there. They told us they came with five Sharon cars and machines. They just put people inside and went away.
“They are small children like 18-20 years and they did not look like Nigerian people. They looked like Chadians, Nigeriens because they spoke languages like Fulani but not purely Fulani of Nigeria. And they were not even more than 20.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has lamented that Monday’s attack could have been prevented but for the continuous delay of the procurement process in acquiring the necessary security apparatus that would ensure adequate security within the railway lines across the country.
The Minister made this known during an inspection tour of the scene of the Monday night terrorist attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train.
Amaechi who was obviously devastated over the sad incident said that his ministry has taken the necessary measures to make train services across the country safe haven, but lamented that the procurement process that will lead to the purchase of security equipment is taking so long.
He added that the cameras in the train are not capable of picking up what is outside the train. He said the security gadget needed, is the type that can detect a security bridge 100 meters away.
The Minister confirmed that eight persons lost their lives, while twenty-nine who sustained various degrees of injuries during the attack were in the hospitals receiving treatment.
The Minister admitted that proper account of the figures of missing persons, kidnapped and those injured could not be ascertained at the moment, as some of the victims who are either staff of NRC or cleaning agencies, were not captured on the manifest.
He said the total number of passengers on the train was three Hundred and Ninety-Eight.
“We have not been able to install the security sensors because the procurement process is a bit difficult.
To shorten the process and save lives like this but because the process is tedious, the approval is also tedious, we have not been able to get that approval that will lead to the purchase of those items.
If those items were here, drones alone will tell you that there are people around the rail tracks because there are drones, there are equipment pick sensors if you touch the track but unfortunately, the process has not been able to get us that approval for us to import those items”.
“The cameras in the train cannot pick what is happening outside. What you need is a camera that shows 100 meters away from the train, there are unknown things carrying guns. Then, we can take precautions but we have done all we need to do in the ministry of transport and we have forwarded to them for approval but we have not gotten approval.
The patrol vehicles are available but they cannot reach everywhere. For the areas that the patrol can patrol, it will forestall.
We are thinking about the possibility of employing natives until we get that equipment. We also need helicopters, beyond the drones, we need helicopters”, he said.
“What we need is the technology that will let you know that there are human activities or foreign activities on the track, that way, you can secure the locomotive and secure lives and I had warned earlier that it is important they get us this approval because human lives would be involved. Since that warning till today, we have had two incidences”.
“Even if they get us approval, it will take some months to acquire them from overseas to install them. We need to do that to enable us to see from Kaduna-Abuja, Itakpe-Warri, and from Lagos-Ibadan what is going on so that we don’t continue to lose lives because lives are important. If we don’t do that, more people will die. The cost was about N3billion and the damage here is more than N3billion. So, if we had gotten the approval, we would have saved the N3billion and saved lives”, he added.
The Minister visited the scene of the incident in the company of the Minister of State Senator Gbemisola Saraki, Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari, MD NRC, Engr. Fidet Okhiria and Chairman NRC Engr. Ibrahim Alhassan.
While the country was still reeling from the effect of the first attack, terrorists, again attacked Gidan Train Station along the Abuja-Kaduna rail track.
Sources say the terrorists may have planted Improvised Explosives Devices IEDs on the tracks forcing the train heading to Abuja from Kaduna to a stop.
This is the second attack within 24 hours along the same axis.
Addressing the saddening situation, President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to immediately swing into action and hunt down the terrorists that attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train.
Buhari specifically told the service chiefs and other heads of security outfits to immediately hunt down the terrorists.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President also instructed the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to repair the bombed section of the rail track and resume operations along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor immediately.
The President issued the instructions after being briefed by the service chiefs and other heads of security agencies, on the findings from the site of the attack.
He told the security chiefs to ensure a speedy conclusion of all the processes for the implementation of the integrated security surveillance and monitoring solution for the Abuja to Kaduna railway line and that this is extended to cover the Lagos-Ibadan railway line.
President Buhari reiterated his earlier directive that the military should deal ruthlessly with the terrorists.
