By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Full operations will commence on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line this November, after months of closure arising from security concerns on the rail corridor which saw the forceful abduction of passengers in Kaduna in March this year.
Boko Haram terrorists who claimed responsibility for the attack in Kaduna had released the hostages in batches, with the last released on October 5, 2022.
The Federal Minister in charge Of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo who disclosed this known on Monday while giving the score card of his ministry in Abuja, assured that adequate security has been put in place to ensure the safety of passengers but provided no further details on the actual resumption date.
The insurgents had blown up the rail track, bombed the moving train to demobilise it.
Many passengers were killed at the scene of attack, while others numbering about 60 were abducted. The incident had attracted international and national outrage.
The federal government had assured that the Abuja-Kaduna rail line will not resume until all those kidnapped by bandits in March are rescued and reunited with their families.
A terrorist negotiator, Tukur Mamu, was on September 6, 2022, arrested in Cairo, Egypt while on his way to Saudi Arabia and returned to Nigeria the next day.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had alleged that Mamu, who negotiated between terrorists and families of kidnap victims, was part of an international terrorist network and used the cover of journalism to perpetrate his deeds.
Popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, to whom Mamu is an aide, had faulted the arrest of Mamu.
