Families and friends of the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna train attack have warned the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) not to dare their patience over the planned resumption of train services on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
They said unless their beloved ones were rescued unhurt by the authorities, they would resist any attempt to resume the train services.
The families demanded the sack of the management of the NRC for their gross incompetence.
They claimed that the Managing Director, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, lied when he said he had been in contact with the families of the victims.
Speaking on behalf of the victims’ families, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh, the chairman, told reporters at a media briefing in Kaduna yesterday that it was unfortunate that 52 days after the abduction of their beloved ones, all the NRC was interested in was the resumption of train services.
He described the move of the NRC as most insensitive, considering that the 61 victims of the train attack were still languishing in the kidnappers’ den.
Jimoh said the NRC boss flouted the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari that the corporation should constantly brief the victims’ families on development as regards those in the kidnappers’ den.
He said: “It has been 52 long days of captivity, fear, anxiety, tears, agony, trauma and recently, despair. We cannot wait for this to come to an end. Amid this depressing situation, the NRC announced its planned resumption of train services for Monday, May 23.
“Nigerians have clearly expressed their opposition to this highly insensitive decision of the NRC, given that 61 Nigerians are still languishing in the deep forest in the hands of their abductors. Moreover, can the NRC guarantee the safety of prospective passengers?”
Jimoh lamented that the NRC had not lived up to expectation for two weeks, as presidential directives said the corporation should give minute-by-minute account rescue efforts to relatives.
He said: “This task, as simple as it is to accomplish, has not been attended to by NRC.
“We have been kept in the dark to continue agonising and indeed some family members are on the verge of developing mental instability. One can only imagine the physical, mental and emotional status of our relatives in captivity.
“We, the relatives of abducted passengers, are proud Nigerians with clear identities. We are not ghosts and we are certainly not faceless as alleged by the management of the NRC in their statement.
“The M.D of NRC, Okhiria, claimed in a recent interview with Arise TV that he has been in regular contact with the ‘real relatives’ of kidnapped passengers.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth. We challenge him to name just 10 of the ‘real relatives’ he has been dealing with, out of the over 1,000 relatives of the passengers still held hostage in the forest.
“This deliberate misinformation by Okhiria is least expected of a public servant of his standing and more so, in a situation that requires utmost sincerity in resolving the current challenge of hostage-taking.”
Jimoh urged the Federal Government to relieve the management of the NRC of their job for gross incompetence.
“The attitude of the management of NRC to presidential directives is a clear testimony of gross incompetence and insensitivity to the plight of relatives of abducted passengers and we demand immediate replacement.
“We will, once again, like to appeal most passionately to Mr. President to direct security agencies involved in the rescue efforts to accelerate action so that our beloved ones in captivity can be reunited with us soon,” he said.
Source: The Nation
