Governor Nasir- El-Rufai has said the Kaduna State Government will not pay a dime to secure the release of people kidnapped during the Monday night’s terrorists attack on a passenger traveling from Abuja to the State.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai reiterated the anti – ransom policy of his administration while fielding questions from State House Correspondents’ on Friday night in Abuja.The Governor who was in Aso Villa to update President Muhammadu Buhari on the Monday disaster and insecurity in his State, disclosed that although the gunmen have made contact with some family members of the abducted persons, they were yet to demand ransom from them.“Well, the families of those kidnapped have been contacted while some of the captives themselves have called their loved ones, saying they are doing well and they are being taken care of.But the gunmen have not shown any sign of collecting ransom.
“As far as the Kaduna state government is concerned, we have not changed our stand on payment of ransom, so, even if they seek for that from us, we will not pay because we are not ready to do so,” he maintained.
El-Rufai claimed the State government had security report about the plan of Boko Haram terrorists in cohort with some bandits to carry out the attack. He said his government promptly forwarded the security concerns twice in writing to the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, but regrettably the corporation did nothing about it.
“We think this thing happened because we have written twice to the NRC, advising that trains on the Kaduna route should not embark on night trips because we have reports that Boko Haram were in town and they plan to attack the train at night using explosive devices,” he said. He stressed the need for massive bombing of all bandit-infected enclaves including forest areas in the North West and North Central parts of the country.
Gunmen attacked a train with several passengers travelling from Abuja to Kaduna about 7.45 on Monday night. No less than 8 persons, including two officials of the Trade Union Congress, TUC were killed in the attack, while more than 40 people sustained injuries.A yet to be determined number of victims were abducted.