Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s classmate on the Kaduna bound train that was attacked and over 60 passengers abducted, two months ago has joined in pleading with him to work out their freedom so she could see her son, who is a sickler and whose condition she does not know.
Simply identified as Gladys in a new video releases by the terrorists holding them, she said: “My name is Gladys….I’m pleading particularly to professor Yemi Osinbajo who was my classmate at 78/79 law school. You are a grandfather and a father; come to our aid because we have been here for 62 days and I have a son who is a sickler; I don’t know his condition now,”
Her comments and those of other abductees come as social commentator, Polycarp Gbaja, wondered what the President, Muhammadu Buhari, and his deputy, Osinbajo, would have done if their children were among those abducted.
“67 days! President Buhari and VP Osinbajo, are you listening at all, while you carry on with Elections 2023 campaigns, as if these citizens, violently abducted and held on the soil of their own country, barely one hour from your villas, seem not to exist before you?!
“Their security and welfare is your primary mandate and duty. Would your own children still be in captivity 67 days, if they were the ones abducted?
“There is no lack of capacity. There’s evidently, a lack of sincere will to rescue them.
You should do so now!” he posted across social media platforms.
he passengers have
The gunmen who abducted the passengers of the Kaduna-bound train released the video of the abductees.
In the recent video, the hostages were pleading with the Nigerian authorities to come to their rescue.
Monday’s video is the fifth time the bandits, as the gunmen are locally called, are releasing video or pictorial evidence that the abductees are alive.
The abduction was executed after the bandits planted explosives on the rail track and immobilised the train around Katari and Rijana axis. The attack was carried out in the evening of the 28 of March.
At least nine people were killed in the attack while several others were injured.
The Nigerian government said it is doing its best to rescue the abducted passengers but 67 days later, only the managing director of the Bank of Agriculture, Alwan Hassan, and a pregnant woman have been released by the gunmen.
Recent video clip
There were eight passengers in the new video released by the bandits. Five of the abductees – all men – were in kneeling position behind three women sitting on a tarpaulin while a masked gunman stood behind them with a rifle.
The gunman spoke in English – the first time the abductors would. They had spoken in Hausa in all their previous videos.
“They (passengers) are appealing to us that they want to talk to the government. So we’re giving them chance to talk to the federal government so, left for you to listen or abandon them..” (sic)
One of the passengers, Maryam Abubakar, said she was abducted alongside her husband and four children.
She said two of her sons are seriously sick.
The son of the leader of the Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, Sadiq Ango, also spoke.
“We are appealing to the federal government to once again come to our aid. We have been here for 62 days. Most of us here are sick and we are not in good condition and everyday the situation deteriorates. We are appealing to the federal government to please come to our aid before we start losing our lives.”
Gladys, said the condition has been unfavourable.
All the passengers pleaded with the Nigerian authorities to come to their rescue.
▪︎ Additional reports, video by Premium Times
