The Presidency has announced that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is doing all possible to assist victims of the train incident between Abuja and Kaduna.
In March, terrorists attacked an Abuja-Kaduna train, killing nine passengers, injuring 20, and kidnapping dozens more.
Garba Shehu, the Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media, told Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday that talks with bandit terrorists are continuing.
He indicated that the federal government’s ultimate objective was to free individuals who had been kidnapped alive.
Garba Shehu said:
“We’re aware that there has been resistance from the family members of those who have been taken captive. Of course this is expected. This acts as a pressure on one of the people involved in the discussion with the terrorists to ensure a safe release of those that have been held.
“The position of government has been stated and restated over time that the success of any operation will be determined by the number of recoveries of human beings alive and well not the return of dead bodies. The government has spoken about the fact that negotiations are ongoing, although a bit difficult, but we hope that we return to normalcy.”
Garba Shehu, while stressing that security services would not expose their strategies to the press, observed that a lot is being done to safeguard train routes in the nation.
He said:
“The matter is with the secrete security service but they they don’t their findings on display. They have done most that can lead to the establishment of credibility between themselves and those they are talking to.
“Yes there is an improvement in security. The air surveillance has been announced by the former minister of transportation and the president as far as we know has okeyed electronic monitoring and surveillance and will ensure that there is tracking of far and near of the rail track not only on Kaduna-Abuja, but also Ibadan-Lagos track.”
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