The news that Tukur Mamu, the leading negotiators for the release of victims of the train attack in Kaduna State, and spokesman for Islamic cleric Sheikh Gumi has been arrested in Egypt is now now confirmed, but the details are still very sketchy.
BASIC FACTS
- Tukur Mamu is the leading negotiator for the release of hostages in Nigeria since the Kaduna train kidnap incident
- Tukur Mamu is the negotiator for victims of the Kaduna train attack and was been arrested by Interpol in Egypt at the request of Nigeria.
- He was arrested as he tried to board a flight to Saudi Arabia from Egypt.
WHAT WE KNOW
A leading negotiator for the release of the victims of the Kaduna train attack earlier this year has been arrested by Interpol in Egypt.
Mamu, who is also the spokesman for Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, was said to have been arrested on Tuesday by INTERPOL at the Cairo International Airport while trying to connect a flight to Saudi Arabia.
Although no comment has been made by the Nigerian government or the security agencies, Sheikh Gumi told Local media on Wednesday that Mamu was detained in Caira Egypt and was on his way back to Nigeria.
He, however, did not give details of why Mamu – the publisher of Desert Herald Newspaper – was arrested in the North African country.
NOTABLE QUOTE
“I am just hearing that he was detained in Cairo with his family. I am not aware of why that would happen and because the Nigerian government did not charge him for anything or declare him wanted at any time,”
“But I have also heard that he is on his way back to Nigeria, so I hope to have more information upon his arrival later today”, Mr Gumi told Peoples Gazette.
Mr Mamu also told Daily Trust saying, “I was not harassed at the Nigerian Airport until I got to Cairo when the security officials there told me that they had orders to arrest me by the Nigerian Department of State Security (DSS). We were arrested alongside my family members for the whole day at Cairo Airport,” He said.
COMMENTARY
Tukur Mamu has been in the forefront of negotiating the release of the passengers that were abducted from the last Kaduna-Abuja train last March.
In August, Tukur Mamu announced his withdrawal as the lead negotiator in securing the release of the remaining victims of the train attack after he alleged a threat to his life by the Nigerian government.
The circumstances leading to the withdrawal of the so called lead negotiated has not been confirmed publicly by the authorities.
The certainty of this cannot be ignored, especially considering the controversies surrounding the banditry and kidnapping for ransom that is now prevalent in the country.
Banditry has become a means of livelihood for many and the activities of the criminals is said to be sponsored and protected by people within the corridors of power who are making revenues from the blood of the innocent who dies daily in the hands of these criminals.
For long the complicity of security operatives in the operations of these kidnapers have been a mere suspicion. However, the events of the recent times has moved this suspicion to the realms of believability.
The ball is now on the court of the government and the security operatives within the army, police and the DSS to prove their innocence in the courts of public opinion across the country.
It’s important the Nigeria public know why Mamu was arrested. It’s for this reason that Clariform News desk will urge the government to get to the root of and let Nigerians know the full details.
