Four additional victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were yesterday, Friday, August 19, released by their abductors.

“Amongst those that were released on Friday includes the oldest victim, a grandmother, Mama Halimatu Atta. She is 90 years old. Also released is her daughter, 53 year old married woman, Adama Atta Aliyu (the woman that was bravely shown in the last video protesting and challenging her captors and lamenting failure to secure their release). The victim that first suggested my name to the abductors, as one of those to be contacted to mediate between them and the federal government, Mohammed Sani Abdulmaji (M.S Ustaz) and a Sokoto indigene, Alhaji Modin Modi Bodinga were also released on Friday,” the negotiator, Mallam Tukur Mamu (Dan-Iyan Fika), said in a statement.

He pleaded “for all stakeholders, especially the Federal Government, to intensify efforts as the condition of the remaining 23 victims they left at the forest is pathetic.”

Mamu in the statement made “a special call to the Federal Government and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)” on the youngest of the victims, 21-year-old Azurfa Lois John.

His words: “This is to alert the Federal Government and especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that I can confirm through credible information at my disposal that if urgent action is not taken to immediately secure the release of the youngest victim of the train attack, a 21 year old Azurfa Lois John, the abductors as they have done in the case of Leah Sharibu are planning to marry her any moment from now. One of the top commanders is said to be in love with her. This important information should be treated with the urgency it deserves. Even though I know that releasing this information will not only unsettle her immediate family and loved ones but Nigerians as a whole, it is necessary to do so to avoid the repeat of Leah Sharibu’s case. I advise CAN in particular not to politicized this issue or reduce it to mere press releases as I have seen in the past but to work closely with relevant authorities to engage the abductors on her case as soon as possible before it is late.

“I pray that in view of the uncertainties which is becoming alarming, the Federal Government will also act very fast to ensure the release of all the remaining victims.”

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