Terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train have threatened to kill those in their captivity unless the government meets them.
‘’Government should hasten to meet us before we turn this place into an abattoir because killing these people is nothing to us. It’s not about money, we can’t do this for money. The government knows what we want,’’ the terrorists said in a viral video released late Wednesday.
Recall that the terrorists attacked the Kaduna-bound train, killing eight passengers, injuring 41 and kidnapping scores of others.
As at Wednesday, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, had said 141 passengers taken away were unreachable but the terrorists claimed they had in their custody 168 persons, out of which the acting managing Director of Bank of Agriculture, BOA, Alwan Ali Hassan, was released after alleged payment of N100 million ransom.
Speaking further in Hausa, the terrorist said: “We are the people who abducted these people in the train some days back. This one ( BoA MD) you can see him, because of his old age and in this month of Ramadan, we pitied him and decided to release him to his relations.
“The government should know that this is nothing. We just pitied him.’’
In the short video, the terrorists, dressed in military fatigues, wielding arms, threatened to kill the remaining 167 passengers should government fail to negotiate with them. The NRC had claimed that 398 passengers bought ticket for the trip, while 362 boarded for the journey.
The terrorists wanted negotiation with the government on possible prisoners’ swap, which perhaps explains the reason they said they were not after money.
Having been granted permission by the terrorists to speak in the video, the BOA boss said: “I would like to let you know that these people (terrorists) pitied me and allowed me to go because of my age.
“But I have left many people behind in a condition that they need help. The government should contact the leaders of this group and negotiate their release because they are in a situation that needs immediate help.”