Seven more victims kidnapped during the March 28 train attack in Kaduna State have regained their freedom.
It was learnt that the victims were released on Wednesday morning. Their freedom comes after the victims had spent 135 days in the custody of the terrorists.
Their release was confirmed in a statement issued on Wednesday by Tukur Mamur, a Kaduna-based publisher who negotiated the release of some of the passengers.
Mamur explained that the victims which were of the same family, the father, mother and four children were released after the intervention of popular Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi.
The father of the four kids, Abubakar, is the son of a former Military Administrator of Kano and Benue States Major General Chris Garba, and also a staff of the National Assembly Commission.
The names of the six family members that were released are Abubakar Idris Garba who is the father of the four kids, his wife Maryama Abubakar Bobbo and their eldest son, Ibrahim Abubakar Garba who is 10 years old.
Others include Fatima Abubakar Garba, 7 years, Imran Abubakar Garba, 5 years old and youngest Zainab Abubakar Garba who is only one and half years.
The statement reads, “Disturbed by the gory videos images of four teenage children belonging to the same family he saw in the last video released by the attackers of the AK9 Train, Sheikh Dr Ahmad Gumi for the first since the abduction of the innocent passengers of that train over 4 months ago has reached out to the abductors through his Media Consultant, sent Allah’s messages to them and consistently pleaded with them to consider the release of the poor children and their innocent parents. It was learnt that the health condition of two of the teenage children has deteriorated since the flogging incident that affected their helpless father. A total of additional 7 hostages were therefore released on Wednesday.”
“The husband of the four kids is a staff of the National Assembly Commission. There was no intervention from the Commission or NASS on his behalf since the travails began.
“This is to confirm to the world that due to Sheikh Gumi’s efforts and with the support of a serving Senator from the North, (a God-fearing personality that doesn’t have any relationship with the hostages) who chose to remain anonymous that all the family of six have regained their freedom on Wednesday morning. Also released is a 60-year-old woman, Hajia Aisha Hassan who was said to have been released due to life-threatening health challenges that deteriorated recently.”
The New Diplomat reports that as of press time, 42 victims have regained their freedom. The number of those still in captivity of the terrorists now stands at 35.
It would be recalled that gunmen had on March 28 blown up the rail track, killing some and abducting scores of passengers, a situation that called for serious concern about the safety of the nation’s rail transportation.
Wednesday’s release is coming a few days after five other victims the abducted Kaduna-bound train was freed by the terrorists.
