Kaduna Train Attack: How Obi of Onitsha Was Saved

By Charles Igbo

But for a phone call, one of four things could have happened to the revered Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe. He would either have been dead, kidnapped, injured or, well, alive.

If any of the first three, especially, the first two had happened, hell would have been let loose. For, there would have been no way to convince the Igbo that the attack was not executed, deliberately, to get at the revered king.

He had purchased the ticket for the Train trip, Abuja-Kaduna, for that evening of March 28, 2022. He had a meeting in Kaduna.  And, in fact, was already at the Train Station, waiting to board. But just before he boarded, he received a phone call which changed his plan, stopped his trip to Kaduna, and saved the Nation a worse embarrassment than it has already suffered since the incident.

Telling the story by himself on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at a function organised by the Afamefuna Socio-cultural organization in Enugu, Igwe Achebe told his shocked listeners the story of his escape.

He said: “I was among the passengers meant to be on the Train last Monday because I had a meeting I was suppose to be attending. I was already at the Train station when I got a phone call over an emergency, and I had to leave the station to attend to it.”

It was the phone-call which told him of an emergency, that saved the Obi.

Recall that terrorists had planted bombs on the Railway tracks between Abuja and Kaduna. On the day of the incident, the ill- fated Train was bombed, and terrorists invaded the Train. A number of people ( the Government says eight) were killed. Reports say about 136 passengers are either missing or kidnapped, and remain unaccounted for. About 26 people were injured, and are in the hospital.

No arrests has, so far, been made.