Anthony Iwuoma
The last has not been heard about last week’s daring terrorist attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train. It is all tales of tears and blood, and shocking revelations by the survivors.
One of them, identified as Fatima Shaibu, revealed that the survivors of the train attack saw hell.
Fatima Shuaibu, a student of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kaduna State, also disclosed tearfully that her sister was shot in the stomach by the terrorists and died instantly.
She explained that they suddenly heard a loud bang, which caused the train to derail whereupon the security personnel attached to the train ordered to lie down on the floor. However, before they could do that, her sister, identified as Zainab Awal, was shot in the stomach and she died on the spot.
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She further said the bandits were mostly young boys of between 18 and 20 years.
According to Fatima, “I was sitting close to the window. Suddenly I started seeing torchlight. It was around 8 pm. Then there was a loud bang as if something exploded. Suddenly the train went off track as if were falling down. As soon as the train stopped, we started hearing gunshots.
“The security personnel on the train announced that everybody should lie down on the floor of the train. My sister (Zainab Awal) was shot in the stomach and she died.
“They attacked the VIP coach. They abducted some people and took them to the bush, they shot other people.
“They broke open the door of the train on the VIP side and they came inside. They took out some people, shot some people, and went away with some, taking them into the bush before the security people came like one hour thirty minutes after the attack, over 500 security and come and rescued us.
“They were targeting the VIP coach, after that they attacked the economy coach, SP 17 they shot many people there. They told us they came with five Sharon car and motorcycles; they just put people inside the cars and took them away.
“When the soldiers came, they had a faceoff with the soldiers, there was serious exchange of fire between the bandits and the soldiers, as they were shooting, they started shouting Allahu Akbar, after that they ran away.
“The soldiers and police came inside and rescued us; they took us to Kaduna-Abuja expressway. They came with long buses, to carry us to Kaduna. They took some of us who were injured to hospitals, some to 44 (Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Kaduna), some to St. Gerald’s (Catholic Hospital Kaduna).
“They are small children like 18 years old, 20 years old and they did not look like Nigerians, they look like Chadians, like Nigeriens because they speak languages like Fulani, but not purely the Fulani of Nigeria and they are not even more than 20 in number.”
However, another survivor, Maimuna Ibrahim, believed that the attackers were mostly Fulani because they spoke Fulfulde fluently.
Ibrahim, who had gone on a workshop in Abuja, said the attackers were chanting, ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is the greatest), adding that the terrorists abducted many of the passengers, whom they forced down the train, beating and kicking them.
On her part, she sustained a gunshot wound on her thigh, but luckily the bullet did not penetrate her bone. She attributed her survival to God.
“Honestly we suffered seriously, but thank God that soldiers came and they really helped us.
I was unable to walk; it was one of the soldiers, who carried me on his back to the car that brought us to the hospital. They carried us and were able to pass over the cliff. Seriously, they tried because it was not easy climbing the cliff.”
A lady, who identified herself simply as Mayowa, lamented that her brother-in-law was aboard the ill-fated train and had so far not been traced. The man could not get a flight from Lagos to Kaduna and had to join Air Peace to Abuja. He had to board the train after his flight was delayed and he missed the 2pm train.
Narrating his ordeal, on his sickbed on Arise News during Governor El-Rufai’s visit, another victim recalled: “The bandits abducted us from the train and then ordered us to trek towards a hill. They did not carry torch lights, as we had to rely on phone lights. There was an elderly woman, who could not walk and a man, who had sustained a bullet wound among us. The man’s clothes were soaked in blood while the elderly woman was with her daughter.
“However, the bandits instructed the elderly woman to stay behind, but her daughter tried to protest. The bandits threatened to kill the lady if she refused to follow them. They left the elderly woman behind, and we followed the bandits blindly until we found a cattle route. I managed to escape after one of the bandits guarding us left to inquire about other members. They chased me, and I fell inside a ditch while fleeing. Fortunately, they did not find me in the ditch.”
One other survivor, who identified himself as Sani Carpenter, said he escaped from the terrorists hours after he and several others were kidnapped.
He said he hid in the forest until the arrival of security agents, who accompanied the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police.
According to him: “The terrorists took me along with other passengers when they attacked the train in their numbers. However, as they were taking us into the bush, I managed to run away. They took many people away but I escaped through the darkness into the bush.
“While I was roaming in the bush, I saw security agencies that came this morning (Tuesday) to the scene; so they picked me.”
Sources at the Rigasa Train Station also disclosed that two staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) were among the casualties.
The train had left Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, at about 6pm that fateful Monday with over 362 passengers before it was attacked between Katari and Rijana communities in Kaduna State. The area has become the hotbed of terrorism in the recent past.
Actually, according to the Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, 398 passengers bought tickets for the trip, but 362 were validated, as having boarded the train through the recognised turnstile, excluding the workers of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, and security officials on board the train.
There were many casualties, including eight dead, many injured and several others unaccounted for or abducted. These included the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Hassan. Also abducted was a former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Ibrahim Wakkala, who was shot but later set free.
Among the dead was a dentist, Chinelo Megafu-Nwando, who was said to have recently resigned from her job and about to travel outside the country for greener pasture.
She had announced Twitter shortly after the attack that she had been shot and solicited for prayers but was later confirmed dead. Her remains were deposited in the morgue at the St. Gerard’s Catholic Hospital, Kaduna.
Also confirmed killed were the Director of the National Board for Technical Education, Abdul Kofarmata; the Kwara State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Akinsola Akinwunmi; and the TUC General Secretary, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, and five others.
The Transportation minister, Chibuike Amaechi, said contacts tracing had begun in order to identify everyone on the train.
“The Kaduna State government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation are all trying to make contact with those on the manifest. There are a few persons who are not on the manifest like the staff of the NRC, staff of the cleaning contractor, they are not on the manifest and we may not be able to completely account for them but those on the manifest, calls are being made to reach them.”
However, the minister also angered Nigerians when he solicited their financial support in paying for the hospital bills of the surviving but injured victims. They described the present administration as ‘one chance government’, even as Governor El-Rufai expressed displeasure that his earlier warning to the authorities to stop night rail services for fear of attack was ignored.
