ON Saturday night, terrorists again struck at another train facility in Nigeria. This time, they attacked a sub-station of the Nigerian Railway Corporation at Igueben, Edo State, shooting sporadically and wounding many people in the process. At the end of their operation, they had kidnapped about 30 of the people there, including passengers and staff at the station.
The Igueben train station attack is sad reminder of the Kaduna train attack about 10 months ago on March 28, 2022, when terrorists, who were later identified as ISWAP members, attacked an Abuja-bound train during which they killed eight passengers and kidnapped 62 others. Of course, being the first time such a thing would occur in Nigeria, it kicked up quite a ruckus between families of the affected victims on the one hand and the government on the other, with the former insisting that the train operations would not resume until their loved ones were all freed from the kidnappers’ den. In fact, the terrorists kept releasing the captives piecemeal, ostensibly after the payment of the demanded ransoms, running into hundreds of millions of naira. The kidnappers kept their victims in their custody for over six months, while the Buhari administration insisted it would not storm their hideout in order not to put the captives’ lives at risk. The federal government was able to release the last batch of 23 captives on October 6, 2022 while the Abuja-Kaduna train service resumed operations on December 5, 2022.
This newspaper recalls that one of the conversations around resuming train operations revolved around securing the train facilities and their passengers from suffering such terrorist attacks again. So, it is a grave concern that barely one month after the resumption of operations on the Abuja-Kaduna corridor, that another such an attack would happen at the Edo axis, this time not on a moving train, but at a train station.
According to media reports, eyewitnesses said the kidnappers were able to successfully execute that operation because the train station was not protected by security men.
One of them said, “The railway station is in the forest; there is no security; no police; no vigilante and they (captives) are at the mercy of God. The station is in Igueben town, just about 1.2 km away from Igueben General Hospital.”
And that is the worrisome part. How come such a facility was bare of police and other security cover, especially in light of out recent past as a country? Does it mean that no lessons were learned from the Kaduna incident on the part of the security agencies, the NRC and other stakeholders?
Following the attack, local authorities said security agencies and paramilitary organisations were combing forests in the area in an attempt to find the perpetrators of the crime and free the captives.
The Nigeria Railway Corporation also announced closure of train station till further notice, while the Edo State Government confirmed that at least one of the kidnappers had been arrested by security men and hunters in the area.
As a newspaper, we do not expect the long-drawn-out hostage saga of the Kaduna train attack in which the victims were at the mercy of their captors for about seven months, including a pregnant captive being delivered of baby in the bush. Also, the federal government’s soft handling of the Kaduna incident may have emboldened the outlaws to strike again in Edo State, hoping to rake in billions like their Kaduna counterparts. This time around, the federal government needs to deploy its arsenal with the aid of technology to take out these brigands and send a message to other criminals thinking of holding Nigerians to ransom that such a crime cannot no longer be condoned in any form; of course, with the required consideration for the safety of the captives.
Luckily one of the kidnappers was said to have been arrested. The investigators must protect him from any internal sabotage and use him maximally to crack this case and apprehend those behind this criminal act.
As a newspaper, we recognise and appreciate the recent military onslaught against terrorists and bandits in the northern part of Nigeria, leading to the elimination of many bandits and terrorists and the surrendering of thousands of others. However, they should see this latest attack on the Igueben train station in Edo State as an opportunity to send a unmistakable signal to the outlaws that enough is enough.
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