The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, and the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Usman Alkali Baba, today visited the scene of Monday’s Kaduna–Abuja train attack at Rijana area of Kaduna State.
The COAS was accompanied by some principal staff officers of the Army headquarters and the General Officer Commanding 1 Division, while the IGP was accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, CID, Kaduna State Command, and other senior police officers.
They arrived at the scene at about 12:01 pm, assessed the security situation around the general area of the attack and inspected the attacked train, as well as the rail track to evaluate the degree of damage.
The Director of Army Public Relations,
Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, said in a statement that the COAS has ordered troops and other security agencies to intensify their search and rescue operations to ensure that the kidnapped victims are rescued unconditionally.
The COAS also assured Nigerians that the troops would be “undeterred and vehement” in the fight against banditry and other forms of criminality.
He urged members of the surrounding communities and all Nigerians to continue to avail troops with credible information to enhance their operations across the country.
Gen. Yahaya observed that the attack highlighted the need for critical stakeholders to review the security of railways across the country in order to achieve the desired security architecture for railway transportation.
The acting Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, noted that the visit and assessment of the scene “will avail the security agencies with relevant first-hand information on the incident necessary for rejigging operational strategy to come up with a robust action plan for the prevention of a reoccurrence.”
