Twelve people who had been abducted by a criminal group at a train station in southern Nigeria’s Edo State a week earlier were freed on Sunday, according to the local government.
On January 7, gunmen attacked a train station 360 kilometers (220 miles) east of Lagos. They took hundreds of people, including many children, who were waiting for a train to Delta State.
Chris Osa Nehikhare, the information commissioner for the state of Edo, said that a group of security workers have freed 12 of the 14 people who were still held hostage after the attack on the Igueben train station.
There was a lot of disagreement about whether or not the first kidnappings were more than 24 or 32.
However, Nehikhare said on Sunday that only “two hostages remained.”
Nehikhare said that the rescue mission was led by “a number of state security agencies, hunters, and members of the Edo State Security Network, which is a group of vigilantes.”
“Some of the kidnappers were detained during the encounter with the kidnappers.” Two of the hostages were freed along with a number of the kidnappers, he added.
He said that the government would do “everything possible” to free the two people who are still being held captive.
Nigeria has a big problem with gunmen, who are usually called “bandits,” taking people hostage for money. Most of these kidnappings happen in the northwest, but violence has spread to other parts of the country.
After the general election next month, President Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general who campaigned on a platform of making Nigeria safer, is scheduled to step aside.
His successor is likely to have significant difficulties due to insecurity.
