Rail Attack: NRC disproves Sani’s account of terrorist attack on Abuja-Kaduna train

The Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Mr. Fidet Okhiria, has refuted claims of terrorists/bandits attacks on its train within the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor.

Former Sen Shehu Sani, whose account of narrow escape from death is trending,  has claimed bandits threw IED and fire gunshots at the engine of the train Wednesday night. He was not on the particular train that got stuck last night, though travelled on the first Abuja-Kaduna train on Thursday.

Okhiria, however, confirmed that part of the rail track was destroyed.

And he attributed the incident to suspected vandals, saying investigation to unravel what happened is underway.

“It’s true our rail track was damaged,” he told the Daily Trust, adding that he couldn’t confirm if it’s a terrorist attack.

He said the track was destroyed by suspected vandals as vandalism of the NRC facilities have been on the increase in recent times.

“So we have issues with the track and we are fixing it. We are working to resume train services and by today’s (Thursday) evening, we should run if possible.

“We operated a train from Kaduna to Abuja this morning (Thursday) but we had to suspend operations due to the damaged track until we fix it” he said.

Accounts of the actual passengers on the train indicated the incident lasted four hours, long enough for the bandits to have attacked as many passengers as possible if they actually set off an IED and shot at the engine.

But there was no threat or attack on any of the passengers.