Barely 24 hours after the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, patrolled the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, terrorists kidnapped 22 persons and raided houses in Jere town along the highway, The PUNCH has learnt.
The PUNCH had reported that IGP Usman had on Saturday gone on patrol along the Abuja-Kaduna highway with some senior officers and men with a view to ensuring adequate security along the highway.
Usman had assured commuters that there was adequate deployment of men and assets to protect lives and property along the highway and that the route was safe for travellers and other road users.
However, shortly after Usman’s visit, terrorists invaded Angwar Maji village located in Jere, the Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, and carried out a house-to-house operation where no fewer than 22 villagers were kidnapped.
It was gathered that the bandits stormed the village, which shares a border with Tafa town close to Niger State, at about 11pm on Sunday.
A source told our correspondent that the terrorists entered the village in large numbers wielding sophisticated weapons such as AK47 rifles and moved from house to house to pick their victims which included women.
According to the source who craved anonymity, the terrorists clad in military uniforms marched the villagers at gunpoint from their houses to an unknown destination.
The source added that they operated for over two hours, saying that they (terrorists) shot indiscriminately at anything in sight.
As of the time of filing this report, there was no official confirmation from either the state government or the state police command.
When contacted on the telephone, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Jalige, promised to reach out to the Area Commander of Jere town and get back to our correspondent but he had yet to call back.
Kaduna Train Attack: Falana Accuses Amaechi, NRC MD Of Negligence, Calls For Their Prosecution
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana has accused the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Managing Director (MD) of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Fidet Okhiria of negligence in the attack on a train plying the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.
He is also calling for their prosecution, according to a statement he issued on Monday.
The legal practitioner referenced reports of attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line and accused the corporation and Amaechi of not taking enough measures to forestall the latest incident.
“Although both Messrs Amaechi and Okhiria knew that the Abuja-Kaduna train was not safe they kept on giving passengers a false sense of security.
“Since both of them knew that the tragedy that befell the nation last week was waiting to happen and did not adopt measures to prevent it, the President should direct the Inspector-General of Police to investigate and prosecute them for criminal negligence.
“Meanwhile, both of them should not be allowed to continue to risk the lives of train passengers in the country.”
He said contrary to claims by the NRC that there is no fraud in the sales of train tickets, a ticket racketeering syndicate was arrested in 2019. Since then, he said the NRC has not been able to crack down on other syndicates operating in the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan train stations.
According to him, the corporation and the ministry is legally bound to bear the cost of treatment for those injured during the incident.
“It is indisputable that the loss of lives, personal injury, and abduction of passengers by the terrorists was caused ‘by want of reasonable care, diligence or skill on the part of the Corporation or its servants’,” he maintained.
“In other words, top officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Ministry of Transportation are liable for the criminal negligence that caused the bomb attack.”
