365NEWS gathered that One of the victims abducted from a train in 2022, has opened up on the discussion he had with one of the kidnappers at a mosque in Kaduna State.
On March 28, 2022, an Abuja–Kaduna train was attacked in Katari, Kaduna, about 15 minutes to the arrival at its destination.
Hundreds of passengers were kidnapped while others were killed and injured by the bandits who bombed the train.
The train had left Abuja’s Idu station at 6pm and was scheduled to arrive at the Rigasa train station in Kaduna by 8pm
In a chat with Daily Trust, Comrade M Muhammad, who ran into one of his abductors at mosque, narrated what transpired during their hour-long discussion.
“Yes it’s true that I saw the guy Abubakar at the Mosque as posted on my social media. Actually he was shocked to see me but I smiled at him which made him comfortable.”
“We stepped outside and he told me that he has now repented now riding Okada. He also told me that one of their notorious commanders, Baba Adamu, had been killed by soldiers and I was happy to hear that news,” he said.
He further added that he forgave the kidnapper simply identified as Abubakar because there were those who didn’t survive the attack but he did.
“Others may be surprised that I forgave him and left him to go because even before seeing him on that day, I had already forgiven them,” he said.
Muhammad, however, said he would not forgive the government for what happened to him on the night of March 28,2022 “because the train was attacked due to the government negligence”.
He said based on intelligence, the government was notified of possible attack on the train but did nothing to prevent it.
The victim also accused government of abandonment after they regained freedom, saying they bore the cost of the therapy sessions that they underwent during the recovery stage.
“We spent 196 days which was 7 months in captivity and after our release, the government did nothing to support us apart from the drip and anti malaria treatment given to us.”
“Many of us, me inclusive, battled with trauma and had to be going to Neo Psychiatric hospital for months seeking treatment without government support.”