Minister of Transportation, Mu’Azi Sambo has hinted that the federal government secured the release of the last batch of hostages kidnapped by terrorists during the attack on Abuja-Kaduna Train on March 28, 2022 without paying a ransom.
The Minister disclosed this at a press briefing organized to provide updates and meet with the victims at the Ministry.
He expressed joy that after six months in captivity the hostages were eventually freed.
“Because this government does not support and approve ransome payment, no Kobo was paid in exchange for the release of these 23 hostages and even for the release of the other hostages” he said.
He said a committee of retired Generals assisted in securing the release of the victims, adding that as soon as the release of the hostages was secured, they were taken to a Military hospital in Kaduna where adequate healthcare was provided for them.
“I want you to know is that there is a committee made up of some retired generals and some retired public officers of high ranking status who assisted the military and the security agencies throughout the process of securing the release of these hostages” he said.
According to him, the victims were reunited with their families yesterday shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, who visited them at the hospital.
He said with the release of the victims Abuja-Kaduna rail services will soon resume operations, adding that Federal Government is currently putting more security measures in place to ensure safety of passengers and also ward off such ugly occurrence in future.
He also said the government had developed a short and term plan for the operations of rail services going forward to ensure that no ugly incident such as terrorists attack can occur in future.
He disclosed that Nigerians would be informed in due time when the train services would resume, stressing that in about three months, government would have been able to fortified and certify the rails corridors and ensure safety of passengers.
“It is not appropriate to reveal exactly what measures have been taken in order to secure the release of hostages of this nature. Now, there are two things I want you to bear in mind. All through these incidents it is the position of this government that under no circumstances should there be collateral damage.
“In other words, the military and security agencies that have been charged with the responsibility of securing the release of these hostages should not act in a way that will endanger the lives of the same hostages is lost in the process of securing them.”
Speaking on rehabilitation of the released victims, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, disclosed rehabilitation is part of the process of securing the release of the patients.
She said, doctors have reviewed the them and they are already being attended to medically.
She added:” We know that this is a form of trauma. The plans of post traumatic treatment for the patients and their family members is already on, as lots of these 23 released are resident in Kaduna.”