Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo has said that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the 23 hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna railway kidnap victims.
At a news briefing in Abuja, Muazu Sambo expressed relief over the release of the kidnapped victims.
On the resumption of the train service, the minister said there are short term and long term measures in place to ensure that operations on the route and improved and security of passengers are guaranteed.
It will be recalled that the Abuja-Kaduna passenger Train service was attacked by Terrorists of the Ansarul faction of the Boko Haram Terror group on the 28th of March this year.
The attack which came after two earlier unsuccessful attempts at attacking the train was IED”s and gun attack that led to the death of 8 passengers and abduction of several Others.
The abductees were later released in batches through initial negotiations led by the Spokesman of controversial Cleric, Ahmad Gumi, Mr Tukur Mamu.
Relatives of the released abductees including high profile individuals like the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture and Others said they were released after the payment of ransom running into hundreds of Millions of Naira to the Terrorists.
With emotions running high following the continued captivity of hostages, the Nigerian Railways Corporation, operators of the service suspended moves to resume operations on the route after repairs of the damaged rail tracks.
The over 60 initial abductees were released over a period of 5 months by the Terrorists through the intervention of Tukur Mamu though it remains unclear whether ransom was paid in all the release of hostages.
Tukur Mamu has himself since been arrested by the DSS for being a facilitator of Terror and financier.
The last set of hostages were released according to the Chief of Defence Staff Action Committee on Wednesday after spending over 180 days in captivity.
This latest clarification by the Minister of Transport will help in dispelling any controversy on the release of the last 23 hostages though concerns remain on what will happen to the alleged hundreds of Millions of Naira paid as Ransom to the Terrorists.
