From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna AK9 Train killing nine persons and kidnapping over 60 passengers, have released a new video, threatening to abduct and kill top government officials.
The terrorists had on the March 28 bombed the Abuja-Kaduna rail track, forcing the train to derail.
The terrorists thereafter shot sporadically at the train. In the process, nine of the passengers were killed, several others sustained gunshot injuries, while the attackers whisked away about 63 other passengers.
About 20 other the hostages have however been released at different times, after payment of ransom amounting to hundreds of millions, while 43 of the kidnapped passengers are still in captivity.
In the new video released on Sunday, the terrorists were seen flogging the remaining 43 hostages, while women and children among the victims wept profusely.
The terrorists also boasted that they would destroy the country, kill the remaining passengers in their custody and sell out the others.
One of the terrorists threatened that unless the government complies with their demands, they would turn the area into an abattoir.
He vowed to abduct political leaders at the federal and state levels, including lawmakers if their demands were not met.
The terrorists also threatened to kill and sell off some of the remaining Kaduna-Abuja train passengers in their custody.
According to him, “the government set up one useless committee to negotiate release of these people. The committee members are there in Abuja just taking tea. Already we know they are just buying time. Their plan is to use force to rescue the hostages, but that is not possible.
“We are on the path of God and we don’t fear anybody. We put our lives on the line to follow the instructions of God. So, you should know that, like we have promised you before, if you don’t take urgent action, this place will turn to abattoir.
“This is our message to the government of Nigeria and just as you have seen these people here, by God’s grace, you will see your leaders; your senators and governors will come before us. These ones you are seeing here, we will keep some as our slaves and sell them off just as we Imam told you in the past.
“Just like the Chibok girls that were sold off, we will equally sell these ones as slaves. If you don’t adhere to our demands, we will kill the ones we need to kill and sell the remaining.”
Meanwhile, the only victim who spoke in the video said the terrorists didn’t plan to keep them hostage for more than a week, except for the laxity of the Federal Government in granting their demands.
He also alleged that, the government was stopping their relatives from paying ransom to secure their release, yet it is not cooperating with their abductors to ensure they are freed.
The victim, however, called on the international community and the United Nations to come to their rescue as the Nigerian government was allegedly not showing interest in setting them free.
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