Kaduna train attack: Families beg FG as abducted passengers fall sick
The remaining 50 abducted passengers of the AK-9 Abuja-Kaduna bound train are being threatened by snake bites, sicknesses, The PUNCH reports.
The negotiator and media consultant to controversial Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, Tukur Mamu, raised the alarm on Monday.
This is just as the families of the abductees renewed their call on the Federal Government to come to their aid.
The PUNCH reported that the bandits had penultimate Saturday, released 11 persons out of the 61 abducted train passengers.
Mamu urged the Federal Government to hasten the release of the remaining 50 passengers before it is too late.
He announced his withdrawal from the negotiation team for “for personal reasons.”
According to him, the health status of the remaining hostages is fast deteriorating owing to the fact that they are being exposed to dangerous conditions. Punch
He said, “This is not the time to politicise issues. The lives of very promising, innocent Nigerians are involved. Their health is deteriorating by the day. Even animals without proper care will hardly survive in the environment they are forced to leave for nearly three months now.
“I believe the government is aware and has taken note of the testimony of the 11 victims that were secured. It makes me sad when issues like this should not be treated with the seriousness and speed it requires.
“The government must activate all avenues of diplomacy. It must be at the top of its priority now. We must not be distracted by prioritising 2023 as I am sadly seeing now, while there are visible and glaring threats of losing the remaining victims.
“There has been no major pronouncement lately by all the major political gladiators. All the major political parties have expectedly kept mute. Is it because none of them or their family members are involved?”
Mamu, who is also the publisher of a Kaduna-based newspaper, Desert Herald, said, in the current edition of the newspaper, that apart from the lack of diagnosis and treatment coupled with poor nutrition, poor sanitary condition, the hostages were being exposed to “unbearable forest life, most of the innocent hostages have lately developed series of life-threatening complications, with some vomiting blood.”
He disclosed that the condition of the hostages’ underlying illnesses was fast deteriorating; urging the Federal Government to act fast.
Mamu said, “I can confirm to you that there are many snakes in that forest. Some of them are victims of snake bites as they appear frequently in the night. They only depend on local solutions to treat it. Punch
