A member of the Nigerian House of Representative, from Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Constituency of Osun State in western Nigeria, Hon. Bamidele Salam has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to go the extra mile to secure the release of the kidnapped Kaduna train victims.
He was speaking while briefing the House of Representative Press Corps in Abuja.
He said that as an individual he was worried by the turn of events in the nation.
“This brief is coming at a trying time in our history as a nation. As Our nation is becoming a jungle of sorts where criminals carve out turfs and operate freely without let or hindrance. One of the key dimensions of this criminality is the unholy practice of kidnapping for ransom, which according reports has spawned a billion naira industry in the last seven years or so.
It is to our embarrassment as a nation that our wives, mothers, fathers, husbands get routinely kidnapped at will by bandits with many of them losing their lives even after the payment of ransom by their families or communities,“ Hon Bamidele said.
He noted that this year alone, several hundred Nigerians have been kidnapped, the most harrowing being the attack on a train along the Abuja-Kaduna rail line in Kaduna State on March 28, this year where 168 people were reported kidnapped and eight persons killed including a young doctor due to travel out of the country the very week of the incident.
“The kidnapped victims of that attack remain in captivity till this moment. It is not clear how long they will be in captivity. Whether they will remain there like the remnant of the Chibok girls kidnapped in 2014, Leah Sharibu who has been in captivity since February 19, 2018, the Bthel Baptist High School Students held for 10 months and 23 days, the pupils of the Islamiyya School in Katsina in captivity for nine months and 28 days, and the of the FGC Birni Yauri in Kebbi State who spent 11 months and nine days with terrorists, remains to be seen. What is clear is that kidnapping is a clear and present danger to our nation with needless loss of lives with its attendant effect on the national psyche.
“A report by Dataphyte reveals that in January this year 915 of the 1486 victims of kidnapping or insecurity, 915 lost their lives,“ he said.
The member also stated that Nigeria clearly cannot continue along that route.
“The kidnappings and deaths resulting there from are a stain on our national conscience. The Kaduna train kidnap incident itself is a blight not only the efficiency of our security system but a slap on the face of the government whose responsibility it is to secure life and property. That such an attack could happen in broad daylight without our security operatives being capable of fending off the bandits, speaks to a defect in our security system,” he said.
He said that the defect reflects badly on the government and belittles the security agencies and has caused Nigerians to lose faith in the ability of their government to protect their inalienable rights to life and property.
“No government can aspire to legitimacy and relevance if it fails the basic test of ensuring the safety and well-being of the people who elected it into office. We are at that point today when the Federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari must rise to it full height and exercise leadership. It is trite to remark that the unfettered activities of bandits, terrorists and other criminals has created the impression in the minds of many Nigerians and even foreigners that the Nigerian state is tottering on the brink of collapse. This impression is reinforced by the ease with which these criminal elements even take on security operatives,” Hon Bamidele said.
He stressed that the Kaduna train attack and many others elsewhere places a burden on President Buhari to work assiduously to secure the release of the victims as the lives of the hostages hang in the balance.
“What needs to be done to secure the release of the Kaduna train victims must be done. Too many precious Nigerian lives have been lost to kidnappers and other malevolent individuals to permit these hapless victims of the train hijack to become the latest statistics of a nefarious enterprise that has sullied the national image,” He said.
He also called on the National Assembly and Nigerians at large to join him in urging President Buhari to do all that is within his power as the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces to free these victims and many others languishing in captivity.
The member who staged a one-man -barfoot walk to the National Assembly also called on Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo to join in the effort to secure the release of the kidnapped victims.
