Abuja-Kaduna: Terrorists Reject N200 Million Offer From Freed Captive

Fresh details have revealed how seven abducted train passengers of the attacked Kaduna-bound AK9 train secured their release.

Naija News reported earlier that some newly rescued victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack were reunited with their families on Saturday.

The lead negotiator, Malam Tukur Mamu, a Media consultant to a popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, confirmed the reunion in a statement on Sunday, noting that the captives were happily reunited with their respective families in Kaduna.

Mamu, however, said that they used the power of dialogue and persuasion during the negotiation to secure the release of the captives.

But sources close to the victims’ families have told Vanguard that about N800 million in dollars was paid as ransom to the terrorists.

A source, who said his brother was among the freed captives, alleged that the sum of N100 million in dollar equivalent was paid as ransom before each captive was released.

The source also disclosed that one of the freed captives also offered to pay N200 million to the terrorists to secure the release of others still in captivity, but the terrorists rejected the offer, asking that every hostage should pay 100 million to regain their freedom.

“Those who could not pay are still in the forest. The terrorists were claiming that they spent a huge sum of money in taking care of the hostages over the past three months,” the source said.

“For each of the six Nigerian victims, their families paid N100 million. But the terrorists collected N200 million for the foreigner, a Pakistan national.

“We learned that only N200 million was collected in Naira, but the remaining N600 million was paid in dollars.

“Since the government couldn’t help and there were threats on the lives of the victims, we sold our property and other belongings to pay the money.” the source said.