Dr AbdulMalik Atta, a member of the presidential committee that facilitated the rescue of passengers abducted from a Kaduna-bound train in March, has accused self acclaimed terrorists’ negotiator, Malam Tukur Mamu, of frustrating efforts to release the captives.
Atta, whose father was among the abducted passengers, made the claim in an interview on Channels Television.
Atta said Mamu did everything within his reach to thwart the federal government’s efforts at rescuing the hostages for his own interest.
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.
“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.
“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.”
