From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Families of victims of the Abuja-Kaduna bound train have vowed to hit the streets and occupy key government facilities in Abuja and Kaduna in protest until all abductors are rescued.
Nine passengers aboard the train were killed and 63 abducted. By next Tuesday, the victims would have spent 100 days in the kidnappers den.
At a press conference in Kaduna, yesterday, Dr. Abdulaziz Atta, who spoke on behalf of other familiy members, said they were scared of losing their love ones in the terrorists den, especially with reports of snake bites and gunshot injury some of them have suffered in recent days.
Atta, whose aged mother and sister are in the terrorists’ captivity said victims’ families would stage a sit-down and occupy protest at public facilities to compel government to hasten their negotiations with the terrorists for release of their love ones.
“By next week Tuesday, which is going to be 100 days that they have been in captive, we are planning to do physical protest. We will be sitting in key govt facilities in protest; we plan to sit there till our loved ones are out. We are changing our strategies from the media conference, the media have been excellent to us, but now we are going to move out physically for people to see us on the streets.”
He said recent media reports of the shooting of one of the victims, Al-Amin, by one of those guarding him has forced family members to be worried on the state of his health and that of others.
“The key question now is the state of health of the person that has gunshot wounds. There is no antibiotics, nobody to remove the bullets from his body, just imagine the current situation he will be in the bush. He needs urgent support, if he is not brought out of the bush, we may loose him.”
Atta said though the outcome of government’s negotiations had led to the release of 11, agents of government involved in the negotiation needed to do more given the presence of children and the elderly who have ben left unattended for weeks.
“…What we are demanding is that they should hasten their release, every single moment they spend in the bush is dangerous . The agents of government that are involved in this negotiation need to do more.
“What we want simply is our loved ones out, we have kids as you have heard earlier on, as young as three years old and from the feedback we had, these kids are unattended, we have women injured, we have aged women and men, those people should be brought out.”
A female family members, Hajia Fatima Ciroma said the past 94 days have seen those held captive live in fear, sleep-deprived, wearing the same clothes, under the scorching sun and rain, and exposed to all sorts of hazards.
“The emotional, psychological, mental and physical torture arising from these conditions can only be imagined. Among other abducted passengers are children, some as young as three years, women, an 85-year-old great grandmother, and others. Some of these victims have health challenges that require daily medications, which they have had no access to in the last 94 harrowing days.
“While some families have their breadwinners in captivity, others have their wives, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, and aunts held down in the forest.
“This sad event has dramatically disrupted the conditions of affected families. Children are left to cry every day, with the only question being, ‘when is mummy coming back’ and, ‘when is daddy coming back home’. What a sorry state.”