By Aminu Kutama
A member of the Presidential Committee that facilitated the rescue of the Kaduna-Abuja train kidnap victims, Dr AbdulMalik Atta, has accused a bandits negotiator and journalist, Tukur Mamu of frustrating efforts to release the hostages.
Atta who spoke on a Channels Television’s live interview on Thursday, revealed that the prominent terrorists’ negotiator, Malam Tukur Mamu, did everything within his reach to thwart the federal government’s efforts at rescuing the hostages for his own interest.
“The Presidential Committee made life-threatening sacrifices, as we had to go into the forest to meet with the terrorists and even slept in the bush.
“It has been six months and one week, but we thank God everything has come to an end now, thanks to the support from the federal government through the office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). We were able to go into the bush and bring back the remaining of our family members,” he added.
Atta, who is also a son of one of the kidnapped victims said the terrorists ab-initio never asked for money but Mamu brought money into the whole issue and derailed the entire process.
He said, “Because of Mamu’s introduction of money into the rescue process, the victims’ families had parted with over $200,000 prior to the chief of defence staff’s intervention.
“We achieved this not through somebody who betrayed the committee and the government, I am talking about the person of Tukur Mamu who did everything within his reach to thwart the efforts of the government for his own interest. As we all know, he is in the hands of the government now. But we thank God, all our family members are back now.”
“The bandits never asked for money ab-initio, Tukur Mamu introduced money into the whole thing and derailed the process and kept everybody for the past six months,” Atta stated.
“We parted away with about 200,000 US Dollars. Thank God the CDS took it upon himself and put in place a committee that never asked a kobo. Every sacrifice being done so far has been personal towards ensuring the release of the victims,” he added.
Dr Atta also implored on the security agencies to work together in their operations, even as he urged the Federal Government to be more open to dialogue with non-state actors.
“Going forward, our security agencies must synergise their operations and the government should open more room for further engagements.”
