The activities of bandits who abduct people for ransom have scared away senior military, security and other government officials from the famous Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
The dual carriage Abuja-Kaduna road links the Federal Capital Territory with most cities in the northwestern part of the country.
Daily Trust on Sunday investigations revealed that the top security and government personnel have now resorted to using the Abuja-Kaduna train and airlines services to travel to their various destinations.
Kidnappers and robbers have led siege on the road in the last one month, stopping vehicles and abducting their occupants for ransom.
In the last one week alone, no less than 20 persons were kidnapped along the Abuja-Kaduna road, mostly in broad daylight.
The insecurity has led senior government officials taking the train to Kaduna before they are picked up by their security convoy. Others board flights to Kano, then proceed to their destinations in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Yobe, Jigawa states and even Zaria, by road.
This development is putting serious pressure on the Abuja- Kaduna train, with the tickets now tripling their original prices, making it exclusive preserve of the most connected government officials and the highest bidders.
At the same time, economic activities are being crippled as people are afraid of plying the expressway.
Military top brass, other VIPs fear kidnappers
In both Idu and Rigasa rail stations, the sight of long military convoys with armed guards has become almost a daily affair.
These security personnel whose responsibility is to confront security threats have also abandoned the route and are seen struggling with civilians for the few available tickets at the train stations.
Last Monday, one of our reporters saw a convoy of cars belonging to a commandant of a military institution, leaving the Rigasa train station after dropping the general who boarded the 2 pm train.
Daily Trust on Sunday observed that business moguls and former governors, head of government agencies also board the train probably for fear of kidnappers.
On Friday when our correspondent visited the train station in Rigasa, not less than 30 security personnel and members of their families were seen either boarding or alighting from the train.
The security situation in Kaduna has worsened despite the commissioning of a N1.24 billion surveillance and monitoring system of the Command and Control Centre of the Kaduna State aimed at tackling such security challenges in March by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai said it took the state two years to commission the aerial system.
At exactly 9:22 am the train arrived from Abuja with passengers among them soldiers, police officers and customs officers.
Inside the train that arrived there while a senior police officer who alighted with four armed policemen who came in Hilux vehicle waited to pick him at the station. As soon as he came down, they drove the vehicle into the VIP section to pick him. A custom officer in uniform also alighted from the train.
Some of the senior security officers seen either alighting or boarding the train were dressed in mufti but were identified with the car that brought them to the station, drivers or their orderlies. A mobile police sergeant with travelling bags was also seen boarding the 10 am train.
At the same time, many junior police officers were seen arriving the station to pick up their bosses who arrived for weekend from Abuja. A senior police officer accompanied by his orderly a Sergeant, was picked in a white jeep at the station after arriving from Abuja.
Another army officer arrived with his orderly around same time and boarded the train to Abuja.
“Since the last incident on Wednesday along Abuja-Kaduna road when the kidnappers stormed Abuja highway in daylight, the train station became crowded with travellers.
“Among the passengers were top government officials, soldiers, police officers and other security agencies. I think they are also afraid of plying the road to Abuja. We are serious problem in this country,” one of the traders at the station told Daily Trust on Sunday.
A driver who came to pick his boss at the station also told Daily Trust on Sunday that: “Anytime you come to this station in the morning, you will see big men and security officers boarding the train to Abuja while some board from Abuja to Kaduna,” he said.
By 2 pm on Friday, our reporter was back at the station where he saw other set of security personnel at the rail station waiting to board to Abuja.
Our reporter also spotted senior Air Force officers at the railway buying tickets for their spouses and their bosses. A police pilot vehicle with two armed policemen were also seen escorting the family members of their boss to the station to board the train.
By 6 pm, the railway station was full again with travellers going to Abuja from Kaduna. A prison officer and his wife were brought in a green van with the word escort written on it. Inside the van were four armed officers. One of the prison officers in the van quicky went into the station and bought a ticket for his boss and wife.
Three army officers were also seen at the same time waiting for a junior soldier holding an AK47 who went to buy them tickets. As they waited, another senior police officer and his son, escorted by an orderly arrived the station.
Most of the military personnel that came to the station around 6 pm were in mufti too but were identified by their escorts and drivers. Even though there were those who came alone.
Another army officer was seen being assisted by his driver, a corporal at the station few minutes before the train left Kaduna for Abuja. An army officer who was escorted by a staff sergeant nearly missed the train as he arrived just few minutes to the time.
The last train for the day arrived the station from Abuja around 8:33 pm with many passengers. The train was expected to arrive Kaduna by 8 pm but was half an hour late. There was no official statement on why it was late but some of the passengers that alighted from it were heard complaining of too much crowd in side the train.
An NDLEA officer accompanied by his orderly alighted from the train and went straight to the waiting vehicle that came to pick him. Also, an army van painted in camouflage coloured was at the VIP section of the train to pick the officer.
Daily Trust on Sunday also spotted a woman who alighted from the train accompanied by a mobile policeman who was holding her belongings into a waiting vehicle that came to pick them at the station. Many policemen and soldiers were all at the station either to pick their bosses or their bosses spouses.
Train tickets for highest bidders
Our reporters were at the Idu station in Abuja as early as 6 am on Friday and met an unprecedented large crowd of commuters loitering about while others sat dejected on the floor at the entrance of the station’s departure lounge.
One of our reporters who boarded the 7 am train to Kaduna said the train was full to the brim with many passengers standing.
The SP8 coach the reporter travelled with was filled up that there was no space to access the conveniences. The turgidly in the coach almost resulted to a fight between two ladies over ownership of a seat.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that tickets were being hoarded and touted only on the black market. The few ones that were sold officially, the prices were hiked from N1, 500 to 2, 500 for economy class while those for business class went for N5,000 from 3, 000.
Tickets for the 2:00 pm train to Kaduna were sold for about 20 minutes at 11: 20 am and many passengers who had been waiting for hours and yet could not get when it was sold left the station in frustration.
A military officer in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA)’s office, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said he preferred to travel by train because “there is no safety on the Abuja-Kaduna road.”
He said it was better to suffer at the train station and get the ticket, even if it were on the black market, than end up in the den of kidnappers on the Abuja-Kaduna road.
He said he had been waiting for over six hours at the station, having missed the first and second trips to Kaduna and was hoping that he would make it on the third couch.
Another military officer who also did not want to be named asked the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) to increase the number of couches on the Kaduna route while government tackles the kidnapping.
“Passengers are looking at their safety so it behoves on government to find a solution. The four trips are not enough now that everybody is trooping here to get a train ride to Kaduna or back to Abuja. One of the solutions to the problem is to privatise the train services so that they can be run efficiently,” he said.
A security man at the station who spoke to our reporter said there had been influx of passengers to the rail terminal in the past few days.
He said at peak periods like on Friday afternoons, they always find it tough controlling vehicles at the parking lot and commuters scrambling for tickets.
Speaking to our reporter through a text message, the Idu Station Manager, Victor Adamu, said “fares remain unchanged.”
He explained that “insecurity on the Abuja-Kaduna road was exerting pressure on our capacity. Pressure from passengers is becoming unbearable due to lack of enough coaches.”
Boom for Abuja – Kano bound airlines
Our investigations revealed that travellers now prepare to take flight to Kano from Abuja and then use other means to reach their destinations.
A visit to Malam Aminu Kano International Airport’s domestic wing revealed that, there are about six morning and afternoon flights coming in and out of the state.
Sulaiman Gimba, a passenger from Abuja told our reporter that he has been plying the Abuja- Kaduna-Kano road on his way to Yobe State for over eight years. He, however, said with the recent spike of insecurity along the road, he had stopped and opted to using flight.
For Jummai El-Shehu, a business woman who lives in Zaria and shuttle from Abuja to Zaria every week. abandoning Abuja-Kaduna road is the beginning of wisdom.
The lady said she escaped being kidnapped along Abuja-Kaduna in February 2018 by the whiskers, and ever since decided to be using flight from Abuja to Kano and then take a taxi to Zaria.
“As a business woman, I used to ply Abuja to Zaria every week on business mission. It was by God’s grace that I escaped a kidnapping attempt along the now dreaded Abuja-Kaduna road, and ever since I resorted to taking flight to Kano and then a taxi to Zaria or we use the Abuja-Kaduna train.
“However, this has increased the cost of making business and had made it very difficult for the business,” she said.
Another passenger who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “for the past 20 years, I have been travelling to and from Abuja by road, but recently I changed to going by air twice a month because I can’t risk my life.”
“It was basically because of the issue of insecurity, especially kidnapping and armed robbery,” he said.
How to curb kidnapping, violent crimes
A retired military officer, Group Captain Sa’id Shehu, yesterday said kidnapping and other violent crimes can only be stopped when the government takes concrete steps to tackle poverty, and adequately motivate and equip the security agencies, especially the police.
Captain Shehu said this during a live phone-in programme of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Kaduna, Hannu da Yawa.
“Yes, guns and other weapons are important, but most critical is the provision of equipment like walkie-talkie, strong vehicles, fuel and increasing the number of police and military personnel,” he said.
He said if the police authority stations a team of policemen at every 10 kilometers on the Kaduna-Abuja road with strong and fully fueled vehicles and with each of these men having a walkie-talkie, they can easily foil any kidnapping or robbery attacks.
“Similarly, security agencies can easily comb any criminal hideouts and decisively deal with them if they have the number. For example, if you give five policemen all the weapons they need, but on approaching criminals, they realised that the criminals are about hundred and equally armed; there is nothing they would do than to retreat.
“In all honesty, the number of police and military personnel we have is grossly inadequate to tackle these challenges and we must do the right thing before we can address these challenges,” he said.
The retired officer also urged the government to address the menace of poverty, as most of the kidnappers were pushed into the crime because of poverty and unemployment.
He said the conditions of families of slain officers must be revisited. “Those in service are observing the fate of the families of their departed or incapacitated colleagues. Our poor handling of these families makes some of our troops afraid to take risks, because they are afraid of what would become of their families,” he said.
Punishment for kidnappers – Islamic cleric
According to Sheikh Muhammad Nura Zubairu Dambo, an Islamic cleric in Zaria, the position of Islam on kidnappers and other similar criminals was clearly stated by Allah, the almighty, in the Holy Qur’an.
He said punishment for kidnappers are clearly stated in the Holy Qur’an chapter 6, verses 33 to 34.
Sheikh Dambo said Al-Kurtubi in his commentaries of the Qur’an agreed that “kidnappers and other similar criminal are to be meted four categories of punishments. One, they can be killed out rightly. Two, one hand and one foot of the criminal to be amputated. For example, right hand to be chopped off with left foot. Three, they can be sent on exile and finally they can be jailed for life.
The cleric said the Imams of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of Sheikh Abdulrahman Sudais have taken a similar position in a Tafsir they jointly authored.
He, however, said if kidnappers and other criminals repent, they can be reintegrated into the society and can even be assist security agencies to fight crimes.
