Our  Problem With Rescuing Train Hostages – Buhari

By Gideon Njoku

Less than 24 hours after the terrorists who abducted passengers on an Abuja-Kaduna Train Service about five months ago released a heartbreaking video where they were whipping  their hostages like slaves of old and/or animals, the Presidency  has explained its difficulties in rescuing them.

The very traumatic video emerged on Sunday. It showed the hapless and helpless hostages, being flogged as they wept. Children were amongst them.

The terrorists did more than that. They threatened and boasted that they would abduct President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, take them to the forest and slaughter them.

For the records, terrorists, during the recent Sallah, when President Buhari went to his home town, Daura, Katsina State, to spend the Sallah holidays, ambushed the President’s advance team in Katsina. During an exchange of gunfire, two Security personnel on the President’s team were injured.

Nigerians have been outraged over the ordeal of the Train Hostages for five months and counting. Only a few of them have been released in batches.

Apparently reacting to the outrage over the video, the Presidency, in a statement signed by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said Mr President has done everything, even more than expected of a Commander-in-Chief for the Military to do its job.

The statement expressed the Government’s difficulties in rescuing the Hostages. It said far from being clueless, the Military is capable of wiping the abductors out by bombing the location, but is conscious of the collateral damages. The lives of the hostages are of paramount importance as they committed no crime other than boarding a train, it  said.

The statement titled, “Latest version of terror propaganda and military readiness,” reads:

“Terrorist activity using propaganda and the use of violence to force Government to accept, or submit to political demands is not new all over world.

“The country’s security and defense forces are not clueless or helpless. They have their plans and ways of doing things which they will not display in the media.

“The dilemmas in dealing with the specific case of train terrorists are manifold: punitive action like the popular call for carpet bombing of the known locations may assuage the desire of an angry public for revenge, but what about the hostages?

“They have committed no offense. All they did was to board a train.

“It suffices to say that the security forces are not relenting. They are acutely aware of their duties, responsibilities and what the nation expects of them. Whenever they embark upon those actions, they expect that the public should provide them with the needed support.

“Terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought by all actors – the military, the civilian population and the communication service providers. This is the only way safe havens of terrorists are eliminated in every part of the world.

“To help the nation against ongoing situation, the media must increase their support for the fight against the exploitation of the internet and social media for terrorist purposes.

“The Presidency, in the meantime wishes to reassure the public that the President has done all, and even more than what is expected of him as Commander-in-Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military and expects nothing short of good results in the immediate.”

The terrorists had ringed the Railway line, close to Kaduna with explosives. As the attacked train screeched to a sudden halt, they boarded it, killed  eight people and abducted a good number of the passengers.