The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, says the Abuja-Kaduna train attack happened due to laxity of the Muhammadu Buhari-led regime to intelligence.

Mr Obi made the remark at the Presidential Town Hall meeting on Sunday in Abuja. The town hall meeting is hosted by Arise News.

Responding to a question on how he would have handled the situation if he were president, Mr Obi said:

“First, for me, I believe that there was a failure of intelligence processing because before that incident happened, there were already indications of insecurity within that rail corridor as well as previous attempts and intelligence that were ignored.”

Mr Obi, a former governor of southeastern Anambra State, asserted that the Buhari administration’s response to the terrorist attack was weak, adding that he would have acted swiftly if he were the president.  

“When it happened, government action and communication were weak. If I was Commander-in-Chief, we would have acted swiftly and throughout that process would have remained in communication and at least shown consistent empathy to the families of those involved,” he said. 

In March, armed gangs successfully attacked a train heading to Kaduna from Abuja with over 1,000 passengers. At least eight people were killed and another 65 abducted on 28 March 2022 after armed bandits attacked the Abuja-Kaduna inbound train carrying more than 362 passengers. 

The Northern Governors’ Forum, in a statement, described the train attack as “barbaric and horrifying”, urging security forces to amp up their search and rescue efforts to ensure that those kidnapped are released without further delay. 

Two months later, the Nigerian government was yet to secure the release of the abducted Abuja-Kaduna train passengers, drawing the condemnation of international rights group Amnesty International.  

After being released in batches, the last 23 passengers of the Abuja-Kaduna train were released in October after 190 days in captivity.