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April 2, 2022

Kaduna train attack: If our soldiers fail, I swear, I’ll hire foreign mercenaries – El-Rufai

Kaduna train attack: If our soldiers fail, I swear, I’ll hire foreign mercenaries – El-Rufai

Nasir el-Rufai

By Nwafor Sunday

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has vowed to hire foreign machineries to fight terrorism if the federal government fails to do its job.

“Why is it that up till now, the security has not gone to kill them? Where are our soldiers? Why have they not done it? That is why I have come to see Mr President.

“And also I have said that if these actions are not taken, it becomes a must for us as governors to take measures to protect our citizens, even if it means we will import mercenaries from outside the country to do it. If our soldiers fail, I swear to God, we will do that. This issue has gotten to an alarming state,” he said.

El-Rufai disclosed this in an interview conducted in Hausa language. Recall that a train was attacked in Kaduna, killing eight persons and leaving many injured.

In a bid to find lasting solution, El-Rufai visited President Muhammadu Buhari, who promised him that he would end terrorism attack in few months time.

Reminiscing on how he wrote letters to the Nigerian Railway Corporation to stop night trips, El-Rufai opined:

“To us, this happened because we have consistently written letters to the Nigerian Railway Corporation. We wrote them twice to stop night trips because we had a security report that Boko Haram had entered and they were planning to blow up the train. We wrote to them twice but they didn’t listen.

“Secondly, the Air Force, in response to that security report, went and established a base at Katari, where helicopters can land and refuel so that if anything happens, they can quickly respond. But that cannot work at night because some helicopters cannot even fly at night. That is why we advised the Federal Government that the night train should be stopped.

“We suggested that the last trip should leave Abuja by 4:00pm so that they could arrive in Kaduna before nightfall and the same for the last trip from Kaduna, but our advice was not taken. It took the security agents over an hour to get to the scene when the attack happened because it was night. It would have been faster in the afternoon.”