*Briefs Buhari on the Kaduna train attack
*Confuses most Correspondents as he briefs them in Hausa
Gov. Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State at the weekend in Abuja briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on security developments in his state following Monday night’s terror attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train around the notorious Rijana axis.
The governor, who appeared sober about almost ceaseless killings in his state, briefing State House correspondents in Hausa language said that the president had assured him that drastic measures were being put in place to checkmate the activities of terrorists and bandits in Kaduna state and beyond.
From the transcription of his statements, it was gathered that el-Rufai said Buhari had told him that security agencies have been making frantic efforts to rescue victims of Monday night’s attack on the Kaduna bound train, from the hands of their abductors.
El-Rufa’i said that the attack on the train was carried out by Boko Haram insurgents in collaboration with some bandits operating in Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto and Kebbi States.
However, he did not give any insight on the identity of those who had attacked the NigerianDefence Academy (NDA), Federal School of Forestry Engineering and the Kaduna Airport, the ceaseless attacks on communities in the Southern Kaduna axis, all in the state.
The transcription of his briefing goes thus: “The President assured me that necessary steps would be taken on the matter and this thing will be brought to an end in few months, and security agents are already carrying out surveillance around where these criminals are and, by the grace of God, they will be rounded up.
“But as you know, the government will always take precautionary measures to safeguard the lives of citizens, therefore, except the victims are rescued unhurt, the airforce and ground troops will not be able to confront the criminals.
“So to avoid any colossal damage, the captives have to be freed first”.
The governor confirmed that the gunmen had contacted some families of their captives, but were yet to request for ransom.
“Well, the families of those kidnapped have been contacted, while some of the captives themselves have called their loved ones, saying they are doing well and they are being taken care of.
“But the gunmen have not shown any sign of collecting ransom,” he said.
The governor emphasised that the gunmen should not be presumed to be kidnappers but members of the Boko Haram terrorist group working in collaboration with bandits.
El-Rufai added: “These ones are not the usual kidnappers but members of Boko Haram who are collaborating with bandits.
”We were thinking they will ask for a huge ransom from the state government, not the families of their victims.
”So far, they have asked for ransom from just one of the families that were contacted.
“As far as the Kaduna State Government is concerned, we have not changed our stand on payment of ransom, so, even if they seek for that from us, we will not pay because we are not ready to do so”.
The governor further said that the state government had received intelligence reports that the gunmen were going to strike on the rail line and had intimated the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on the matter, but no action was taken.
“We think this thing happened because we have written twice to the NRC, advising that trains on the Kaduna route should not embark on night trips because we have reports that Boko Haram were in town and they plan to attack the train at night using explosive devices”.
He stressed the need for massive bombing of all bandit-infested enclaves including forest areas in the North West and North Central parts of the country.
It should be recalled that the Kaduna-bound train, left Abuja at 6 pm. last Monday, and was attacked by the terrorists at about 7.45 pm, about 15 minutes to Kaduna.
Eight persons had been officially confirmed dead, 46 hospitalised while several others were kidnapped.
At the time of filing this report, the true state of affairs of the kidnapped victims have not been ascertained.
