Day Bandits Bomb Abuja, Kaduna Rail Track and the question of Leadership in Nigeria

Day Bandits Bomb Abuja, Kaduna Rail Track and the question of Leadership in Nigeria

By: James Bwala

Armed bandits on Wednesday reportedly bombed a train travelling between Abuja and Kaduna, inflicting technical damages on the country’s major rail infrastructure. A former senator representing Kaduna central was on that train. But why are we here? And whose fault is that we are witnessing such an increasing and dangerous situation on our roads and rails.

The former Senator, Shehu Sani said a train he rode between Kaduna and Abuja on Thursday morning nearly derailed because of an explosive that damaged a section of the tracks. Mr Sani, in a telephone exchange with the media over the incident, said the bandits were targeting the trains in order to dispose of passengers of their cash and other valuable possessions.

A spokesman for the Nigerian Railway in Abuja did not immediately return a request seeking comments on Thursday morning. But later, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) confirmed that suspected bandits on Wednesday destroyed a portion of the Abuja-Kaduna rail track with explosives, forcing a disruption of train services on the route.

Bandits have repeatedly targeted the railway between the nation’s capital and the key northern city, which has become the preferred route for passengers seeking to avoid the perilous three-hour journey by road. The deadly gangs have raided military bases and shot down at least one reconnaissance jet of the Nigerian Air Force.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the military paid a ransom to the bandits to prevent President Muhammadu Buhari’s plane from being shot down. The Economist, a London publication in its recent report said Nigeria under President Mohammdu Buhari has become a crime scene of destructive magnitude on the African continent.

The president has repeatedly vowed to be ruthless against the attackers largely responsible for widespread abduction and plunder of communities across Nigeria’s northwestern region. But security agencies are warning that the gangs are becoming more armed with sophisticated combat equipment that would make it more difficult to defeat them.

The situation as it unfolds day by day in Nigeria is very scary. At the fountain side a location near the Nicon Hotel in Abuja, Omolowe Sowore, leader of the #RevolutionNow told newsmen on Wednesday while commemorating the one year anniversary of the #EndSARSnow that a bigger and uncertainty of protest is coming where the Nigerian Police and our military will drop their weapons and seek help by taking to their heels. This presented a kind of revolution never seen in the history of this great country called Nigeria.

In the Southeast, IPOB and its sympathizers have stopped people from making meaning out of their livelihoods. They went further according to stories making the rounds to hunt on anyone preaching peace or playing neutral to the agitation of the emancipation of the Igbo Nations. Recently, three Monarchs were killed and the stories went viral but nothing much was being said or even if the perpetrators were to be later arrested the same treatment of pampering the evil and punishing the innocent as the case with the system would be in play.

The Southwest is also faced with the agitations but calmly taking another direction now with the arrests of Sunday Igboho and his agents. Calm also because the ruling party seemed to have given the southwest the rope to make or to mar their tomorrow in the swirling storms calling for unity and division among the people in trying to add value for the dreams and hopes they wish for themselves and what the other part of the country wishes for them.

The Northeast has seen hell and help is still widening with recent activities of Boko Haram in the region. A story of laughter and pain emerging everyday where the people keep asking why the gods are angry with them. The Maiduguri, Damaturu road have sucked blood and the government and the rich had proffer solutions for themselves. There will be no bandit in the air, so it is safer even as the international organization has found a way to carry their precious staff across the deadly route. The poor man has no option but to live on God’s protection or to end in the hands of terrorists.

Before the train was introduced, the Abuja, Kaduna roads were busy even though not completely safe. That is because the government and the rich are still taking it with the support of security operatives they have always caged around them. However, with the introduction of the train the roads were again left for the masses to ply. When abducted it is unfortunate and perhaps how God allows it, and when to go through safely it is for his glory and mercy.  

The story of the attack on the rail track was unfortunate and sad. According to a report by the Nigerian Tribune newspaper, the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, said the explosives damaged the rail track at a spot between Dutse and Rijana, an area that had recorded numerous bandits’ attacks along the Kaduna Abuja highway.

Also Read: Boko Haram: Soldiers, Youth Volunteers speak on UN’s…

Mr Okhiria said the Corporation was making efforts to restore train services on the route. In fact, by Friday (tomorrow) there are likely to be train services.

“Efforts are currently ongoing to ensure that the train services along the Kaduna-Abuja route are fully restored,” the official said.

A staffer of the NRC quoted by Daily Nigerian newspaper said the attack was deadly. “The bandits first attacked the last Abuja-Kaduna train bearing number AK9 between Rijana and Dutse. The train came under heavy gunfire, but it struggled to stutter for about seven kilometres and stopped as the gunshots damaged the fuel tank,” the newspaper quoted the unnamed staff.

“At the point of the attack, the train was unable to make contact with Abuja. Hours later, contact was made and a relief locomotive arrived past midnight. And then the morning train from Kaduna to Abuja, bearing number KA2, also ran over fractured rail tracks, but successfully completed the journey. Suspected explosive devices were planted on the track, but God in his infinite mercy saved the travellers and train.” He said

The question is if ordinary Nigerians know exactly the point or rather black-spot where these heinous crimes are being committed, why are the authorities still in the planning room? I do not want to believe -The Wall Street Journal report and I do not want to go with – The Economist either. But the situation is putting pressure not only on me but also on millions of Nigerians who believe this government is here to right the wrongs of the past.

Day Bandits Bomb Abuja, Kaduna Rail Track and the question of Leadership in Nigeria