Abuja-Kaduna Train Attack: Nigerian lawmaker protests barefoot against Buhari government’s silence, incompetence

A member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele Salam, representing Ede North/Ede South/ Egbedore Federal Constituency of Osun State on Wednesday in Abuja embarked on a lone protest calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue the abducted Abuja-Kaduna train passengers.

The passengers were abducted since March 28 on the ill-fated train.

He berated Buhari for abandoning the victims in the hands of their abductors.

The placard-carrying lawmaker walked barefooted from popular Unity Fountain to the National Assembly complex lamented over the harrowing condition of the victims in captivity.

The lawmaker wrote on his placard, “President Muhammadu Buhari, please do more to secure freedom for the Kaduna train abductees and other citizens in captivity.”

Bamidele said the kidnapping and deaths of the victims was a dent on the national conscience and government whose was saddled with the responsibility of securing life and property.

He called on the President to rise up to the occasion and rescue the victims as a matter of urgency and necessity.

He said, “President Buhari must rekindle that confidence and a good place to start would be to work assiduously to secure the release of the kidnapped Kaduna train victims. Reports and video footages emanating from their abductors are not encouraging. The lives of the hostages hang on the balance as the federal government seemingly at its wits end, prevaricates on such sensitive matter of national importance.

“What needs to be done to secure the release of the Kaduna train victims must be done. Too many precious Nigerian lives have been lost to kidnappers and other malevolent individuals to permit these hapless victims of the train hijack to become the latest statistics of a nefarious enterprise that has sullied the national image.”