OZIORUVA ALIU FROM VANGUARD
Speaking to journalists shortly after visiting the victims at the Police Cottage Hospital in Benin City, Governor Godwin Obaseki also berated the authorities of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for not providing enough security in their facilities after the Kaduna train kidnap last year even as he threatened to sanction traditional rulers in the area who are still giving their lands to herdsmen for grazing.
The governor said no amount was paid for the release of the victims but that the Special Forces went in and overpowered the kidnappers who ran away with the remaining two victims who are said to be staff of the NRC.
Obaseki said “We thank God, we are grateful that we have been able to secure the release of almost all the people who were kidnapped about a week ago from the Igueben train station in Edo state.
“It has been a very grueling experience, something we never prayed for and we hope that it would not happen again. They tested the will of our security system that we have put in place and we are so glad that the system has been resilient. In the last one week, we have been able to be on the trail of the kidnappers, we contained them to certain areas, they could not leave the area we contained them to and with all intelligence and the aerial support we got from the Airforce, from the police, the drone support, the technology support we were able to track them and with the training of the Special Forces we have and all the other members of the team we put together, we were able to release 12 out of the fourteen still being held hostage unarmed.
“We think it is something worth celebrating, we think we should thank and appreciate members of our security forces for the sacrifice they put in, the endless nights, the sleepless nights which they put into this must be commended. Today, which is the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, we have something to rejoice about, something to thank our security services for. We will continue to invest in the security system of the state, we will continue to encourage the collaboration of our security forces and we will make sure that we continue to invest in the requisite technology and equipment to curb this sort of incidence”
