BREAKING: Train Terrorists Release General Garba’s Six Family Members, One Other Woman

By Adesina Soyooye

The Terrorists who bombed an Abuja-Kaduna bound Train have, on Wednesday,  August 10, 2022, released seven more of the hostages.

The terrorists had attacked the train on March 28, 2022, killing eight passengers, including a young female Medical Doctor, and a Lawyer. They also took 63 passengers hostage, and have been releasing them in batches.

Released on Wednesday are seven of the hostages made up of six family members of Major General Idris Garba, a former Military Administrator of Kano and Benue States.

The family members are the General’s son, Abubakar Idris Garba, his wife Maryama, and their four children, Ibrahim (10 years), Fatima (7 years), Imram (5 years), and Zainab, (one year). Zainab was only seven months old when she was kidnapped along with her parents and older siblings.

The other released person is a 60 year old woman, Hajia Aisha Hassan.

Mallam Tukur Mamu, Publisher of the Desert Herald and Media consultant to Sheik Abubakar Gumi, who has been mediating in the release of the hostages, apparently, on behalf of Gumi, confirmed the release, and explained that Gumi reached out to the terrorists after watching the video where they were mercilessly flagging hostages.

He said that the Garba family was released because two of the children were very ill while Hajia Hassan was released because of a life threatening illness which deteriorated in captivity.

It is not yet confirmed if any ransom was paid before their release, but the Terrorists are, allegedly, charging N100m per hostage before release.

Their negotiation with Government, apparently, broke down even after the Government, allegedly, released about 30 people who the terrorists asked to be released in exchange for the release of the hostages. They, now, obviously, prefer to negotiate with individual families.

So far, 35 of the hostages have been released in batches of one, 11, seven, four, five and now, another seven. The others are still languishing in captivity.