Coming barely nine months after the terrorist attack on Abuja to Kaduna bound train, the recent attack on a train station in Edo State is as sad as it is disturbing. According to reports, the attackers, suspected to be herdsmen, kidnapped 32 travellers waiting to board a train from Igueben, in Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State, to Warri in Delta State on Saturday, January 7, 2023. One of the kidnapped victims later escaped. Among the victims were the station manager, ticket clerk, some other members of staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and passengers.
Before abducting their victims, the terrorists, reportedly armed with AK47 rifles, shot sporadically into the air. Some of the passengers sustained bullet wounds. The police in Edo said bush combing and rescue operations had commenced to rescue the kidnapped victims. A retired police officer, a nursing mother and her baby and two other minors have reportedly been rescued from the 32 passengers. Altogether, six victims had been rescued. The terrorists, who were reportedly forced to release the minors because they couldn’t move fast into the bush, have asked for a ransom of N20 million for each of the victims. One of them has reportedly been arrested.
Reports have it that the train station is in the bush and the area is known to be a beehive of criminal activities. The kidnappers were said to have taken their time to march out their victims because there was no security presence in the area to resist them.
In March last year, terrorists similarly attacked Abuja to Kaduna train with 398 passengers. They planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on the tracks at Dutse village inward Rigasa Train Station in Kaduna. This forced the train heading for Kaduna from Abuja to derail and stop, giving room for the terrorists to attack it. They killed at least eight people and abducted scores of others. Many others were wounded. Among the dead were a young female dentist, Dr. Chinelo Megafu Nwando; the Director of the National Board for Technical Education, Abdul Kofarmata; the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Musa-Lawal Ozigi and the Kwara State Chairman of the TUC, Akinsola Akinwunmi. Soldiers later came to the rescue of the passengers as they confronted the terrorists who drove into the forest in buses with some of their hostages. They released the abductees in batches and only released the remaining ones recently after spending months in captivity and payment of ransom. Service on the route, which was suspended after the attack, only resumed on December 5, 2022.
It is unfortunate that terrorists have made life unbearable for many Nigerians. Worship centres are not safe. The roads are not safe. The rail is not safe. Not even the airport is completely safe. Two days before the Abuja to Kaduna train attack, these terrorists had invaded the Kaduna International Airport and killed a security guard. Soldiers later repelled the attack. On June 5, 2022, some terrorists invaded St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, in Ondo State and massacred over 40 worshippers.
One major reason why the insecurity has festered is because we have not found a solution to the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Nigeria. Sometime last year, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (retd), lamented that arms proliferation had become a major source of vulnerability in our society and stood out as a key driver of violent conflict, crime and terrorism within and beyond our borders. Over six million illicit arms are said to be in circulation in Nigeria.
We had thought that by now, the present government would have found a solution to the spate of insecurity plaguing the nation. President Muhammadu Buhari had pledged on different occasions to end the insecurity before he leaves office. This has not materialised.
Terrorism could happen anywhere in the world. The major difference between the advanced world and ours is that while they deploy technology and intelligence to ensure such acts never happen again, we still rely on crude ways to tackle the problem. After the July 7, 2005 terrorist bombing of London’s transport network which killed about 52 people and injured over 770 others, the United Kingdom changed a lot of things in terms of how they monitor threats and how they respond when such threats become obvious. Now, that country has more comprehensive and efficient communications system and greater access to Close Circuit Television (CCTV) with more widespread coverage than before.
We need such technology and improved intelligence network in Nigeria. Also, there is need to decentralise policing in Nigeria. The reported arrest of one of the suspects in the Edo attack was made possible because of the collaboration among the security agencies mainly the police, the local hunters and the Edo State Security Network. The central police cannot tackle the problem of insecurity alone. The earlier the government recognises this fact, the better for all of us.