Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has sued the federal government at the Federal High Court in Abuja, over the deadly attack on an Abuja-Kaduna-bound train.
Recall that gunmen had on March 28 bombed the Kaduna-bound train, killing eight passengers with several others abducted by the attackers.
Nearly two months after the incident, most of the abductees remain with their captors, while the federal government announced that it was reopening train services on the Abuja-Kaduna.
However, in the fresh suit filed on Monday, Falana,(SAN), and another human rights lawyer in his law firm, Marshall Abubakar, asked the court to stop the Government from resuming train services on the Abuja-Kaduna route pending the provision of adequate security for intending passengers.
According to court filings, the plaintiffs listed the Minister of Transportation, the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, as defendants.
Falana and Abubakar, who claim to “frequent the Abuja-to-Kaduna train lines”, argued that it is the government’s responsibility to “secure the railway lines linking Kaduna State to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, before the recommencement of railway transportation services”.
The plaintiffs urged the court to declare that everyone residing in Nigeria is entitled to the protection of their fundamental right to life guaranteed by the Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Falana and Abubakar also prayed the court to declare that the brutal killing of unarmed passengers in the Abuja – Kaduna bound train by armed gangs/Boko Haram terrorists on the 28th day of March 2022 is illegal and unconstitutional.
They asked for “an order mandating” the government “to protect the lives and properties of every passenger plying the Kaduna- Abuja Railway lines(and indeed all other railway lines in Nigeria) by recruiting adequate security personnel and security gadgets to guard and protect every of such passengers utilising the public railway transportation system in Nigeria.”
Furthermore, the plaintiffs begged the court to make “an order mandating the respondents’ officials whose criminal negligence caused the bomb attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022, to be investigated and prosecuted.
They are also seeking “an order mandating the respondents to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the chilling attack on the Abuja- Kaduna bound train on March 28, 2022.
Bandit-terrorists on March 28 ambushed the train heading for Kaduna from Abuja after bombing its rail track. The attack was attributed to the failure of the authorities to act on intelligence reports. It was the second time the rail line between Abuja and Kaduna would be the target of bandits.
Meanwhile, the suit is yet to be assigned to a judge for a hearing.
