A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday, challenged federal government of the President Muhammadu Buhari to give details of the release of 23 remaining kidnapped victims of an Abuja-Kaduna bound train attacked by terrorists on March 28, 2022.

HURIWA's National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said it was shameful that over 60 train passengers were abducted by terrorists, six months ago and the government failed to neutralize or apprehend any of the marauding terrorists who subjected the nation to over six-month grueling pain and agony after killing scores of passengers during the dastardly terrorist attack.

The group insisted that the government has many questions to answer on the train attack hostages, saying the government with its shenanigan, is forcing Nigerians to believe that the attack was stage-managed for cheap political points.

HURIWA also called for the prosecution of alleged terrorists negotiator, Tukur Mamu, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services for weeks after allegedly aiding and abetting terrorist activities, including allegedly facilitating the payment of hundreds of millions of naira as ransom by families of distraught hostages, as accused by the DSS.

Nigerians were stunned last Wednesday when Usman Yusuf, Secretary of the seven-man Presidential Committee assembled by the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General L. E. O. Irabor, announced that the 23 remaining kidnapped train victims had been released.

“The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Nigerian Military under the leadership of the CDS who conceived and guided the operation from start to finish,” Yusuf said.

Also, the President expressed satisfaction with the deployment of “both kinetic and non-kinetic processes” that led to the release of the remaining hostages.

However, Onwubiko said: “The regime of President Muhammadu Buhari must think that all Nigerians are fools. Where are the terrorists? Were they issued safe passage and allowed to go with their loot? Who is fooling whom? So after closing this 'shop' shortly after allegedly catching the cash for hostages negotiator, where is Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, the defender of the hostage takers after his man, Tukur Mamu, was taken into custody and millions of naira allegedly found in his apartment?

“When is Tukur Mamu going to court? Why is there no trace of the hostage takers who kept these hostages for over six months in the thick forests? How did this 'committee' carry out what they now present as seamless 'release' or is it 'rescue?’

“For this government, it is the more you look, the more you see but the less understand!

“HURIWA demands clarification on the confusing circumstances surrounding this incident, including knowing if the kidnappers were granted safe passage.”

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