The federal government has said preliminary reports on the Abuja-Kaduna train attack have revealed the impact of collaboration between bandits and dislodged Boko Haram terrorists from the North East.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said this Wednesday while answering questions from state house reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja.
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Mohammed intervened after the minister of defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (Retd) was asked to provide information on the perpetrators of the attack.
Mohammed said, “What is happening now is that there is a kind of an unholy handshake between bandits and Boko Haram insurgents. Preliminary reports of what transpired at the Kaduna train attack show that there is a kind of collaboration between the bandits and the dislodged Boko Haram terrorists from the North East. I can tell you very confidently that the federal government is on top of this matter.”
On what the government was doing following the 72-hour ultimatum issued by families of the victims of the train attack to get them rescued or be allowed to take their fate in their hands, Mohammed said that would not be made public.
He said, “It’s natural for anybody who is a father or a mother of a kidnapped person to be worried and to be concerned. But at the level of government, we appreciate that and we are leaving no stone unturned, but that we’ll give you specific steps we’re taking, I think it will be counter-productive and not going to aid or help those who are kidnapped or help the security forces who are tracing and ensuring that there’ll be no repeat of such attacks.”
The defence minister, in his earlier response to the question, said the security chiefs were working hard to unveil perpetrators of terrorism in the country.
