HOW OVER 100 BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS IN KIRIKIRI PRISON, LAGOS WERE RELEASED, FLOWN TO BORNO, KANO

…in exchange for the freed 23 Abuja-Kaduna train attack victims

S’Reporters reports

Over 100 people arrested for alleged links with Boko Haram and detained at the Kirikiri Correctional Centres have been released.

SaharaReporters gathered that most of the released suspects were arrested in Borno, Bauchi and Kano states on suspicion of being members of Boko Haram in late 2009 when the police and other security agencies embarked on raids that led to the arrest of many members of the terrorist organisation. 

“Over 100 Boko Haram suspects held at Krikiri prison were released last Friday. On Wednesday, the suspects started selling their properties in prison in preparatory for their release.

“The Assistant Controller-General came to Kirikiri on Thursday and announced their release. A big vehicle was brought on Friday and they were transported to the airport,” a source told SaharaReporters.

Another source however said the prisoners were freed as part of a swap deal with terrorists for the release of the 23 remaining abducted passengers of the Abuja- Kaduna train attack.

On March 28, a train on its way from Abuja was attacked by bandits in Kaduna State.

Several persons were killed while many were abducted during the attack. 

Last Wednesday, the remaining captives were released by the gunmen.

“It was actually a prisoner swap demanded by Boko Haram, in exchange for the remaining 23 Kaduna train passengers kidnapped by the sect on the 28th of March 2022,” the source said.

The Legal Aid Council had recently kicked against the continued detention of some of the suspects.

“Some of the suspects were arrested in their homes, business premises, mosques, or travelling on the highways during raids carried out by the police,” Daily Trust had quoted an official of the council as saying.

“From our investigation, more than 160 persons were arrested, but we now have 101 still in detention. They were initially 104, but three died in detention while six others have mental problems due to trauma.”

He said the detainees were initially arraigned before courts in Kano, Maiduguri and Bauchi. He said the courts granted them bail but some of them could not meet their bail conditions; hence they are still in detention.

“They were separately detained in correctional centres in Kano, Maiduguri and Bauchi pending the time they would meet their bail conditions. However, in March 2011 they were all herded into a truck and moved to Lagos.

“We have 74 being detained in the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre while 27 are detained in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre,” he added.

He said that after their movement to Lagos, there was an order that they should not be allowed access to their relatives. He added that many of them had lost contact with their relatives.

He said the detainees were charged with offences which mostly carried a maximum of four years imprisonment.

“What it means is that they would have even served their terms by now if they had been convicted,” he had claimed.

“They could not also be detained under the terrorism act as the law was passed after their arrest, and it does not have a retrospective effect.

“These people should be released or brought back to the respective places of their arrest and be prosecuted. This is a clear case of human rights abuse, which should be addressed immediately in the interest of justice.”

- SaharaReporters

ABUJA-KADUNA TRAIN ATTACK: OVER N6 BILLION RANSOM ALLEGEDLY PAID TO TERRORISTS

Following the release of all the abducted victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, over N6 billion may have been paid to the terrorists to set most of their captives free.

Terrorists attacked an Abuja-Kaduna passenger train on March 28, 2022, in which about 14 persons were killed and 63 officially declared abducted.

The attack, however, forced the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, to temporarily suspend activities while President Muhammadu Buhari directed security agencies to rescue the victims.

23 remaining captives were, on Wednesday, released almost six months after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists.

The cheering news was conveyed by Usman Yusuf, Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff Action Committee, CDSAC.

A Presidential Committee, reportedly set up by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, to look into the abduction of victims of the Kaduna-Abuja train attack, secured the release of the remaining victims in the terrorists’ captivity.

Yusuf in a statement said: “I am pleased to announce to the nation and the world that at 1600Hrs (4:00 pm) today, Wednesday, 5-10-2022, the seven-man Presidential Committee assembled by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General L.E.O. Irabor, secured the release and took custody of all the 23 remaining passengers held hostage by Boko Haram terrorists following the attack on the Abuja to Kaduna train on 28-3-2022”.

Prior to the release of the remaining 23 hostages, some 40 abductees were released in groups after  alleged payment of N100m ransom each.

Though the government and its agents have denied paying any ransom to the terrorists, reports said victims’ families were made to cough out N100 million each to secure the release of their loved ones.

“The terrorists collected the ransom in naira and US dollars. Only N200 million was collected in naira, the remaining N600 million was paid in the equivalent of US dollars,” one of the victims’ relations told journalists.

Another relative of the victims, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed to AIT.live via telephone that ransom money was paid, though he could not state the precise amount.

Meanwhile, Tukur Mamu, Publisher of the Desert Herald newspaper, who negotiated the release of seven hostages from the terrorists, insisted he was not aware of the payment of ransom to secure the release of the hostages.

While reacting to a report in the media that six Nigerian hostages paid N100 million each, while the seventh hostage, a Pakistani, paid N200 million before they were released, Mamu said the report may have been “exaggerated”.

“Money cannot achieve what I have done today. And I will never involve myself in any issue that has to do with money, Mr Manu claimed while announcing the release of the hostages”, he said after one of the batches of hostages whose freedom he claimed to have negotiated was freed..

Mamu was arrested by INTERPOL in early September in Egypt on his way to Saudi Arabia for Hajj on the instruction of the Nigerian authorities. Extradited to Nigeria, he is being held by the Department of State Service (DSS) on charges of collusion with “local and international terrorists”.

Going by media reports and family sources that each victim outside of the last 23 paid N100m to regain their freedom, and the criminals received over N6 billion in ransom payments.

Vanguard reports