The President’s wife, Hajia Aisha Buhari has explained why she decided to travel back to Abuja on Thursday by train rather than following the routine flight back.
Pictures of the First Lady sitting in one of the cabins of the Kaduna to Abuja rail line, were all over the media on Friday morning, including some major national dailies, leaving many of those conversant presidential travels wondering.
Providing an explanation into the circumstances responsible for the First Lady’s joining the train, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the First Lady, Aliyu Abdullahi, said she did it to encourage patronage for the railway service system in the country.
Abdullahi, who explained that the First Lady intended to interact with ordinary Nigerians while on the journey, said she also planned to show Nigerians that travelling by rail is safe and effective, adding it also showed that she is proud of the achievement’s of her husband’s administration.
“Actually, it’s to appreciate the beautiful works the President and this administration has done, in terms of infrastructure, so she decided to take advantage of the Kaduna-Abuja rail.
“The idea is to depict to the public that train is safe and efficient mode of transportation, because if the First Lady can ride it, it means it is safe for anybody.
“Besides that, it is meant show that she’s proud of what the administration is doing, proud of her husband’s achievements in the area of infrastructure.
“There’s no concern about safety or any question around why she did not fly because if there was a problem with an airline, she could have just flown with another company. The reason for her traveling by rail is what I have narrated to you.
“The whole idea was just to experience the trip on the train, interact with ordinary Nigerians who would not have had access to her on a normal day, encourage them, a form of inspiring the people,” Abdullahi said.
Meanwhile, hoodlums activities on the railway track forced train movement on the Lagos-Ibadan Railway section to temporarily stop on Saturday.
Passengers aboard the train which departed the Obafemi Awolowo Train Station in Ibadan at 8:30 am on Saturday, were said to have been forced to stop somewhere before Funmilayo Ransom Kuti, at the Papalanto area, due to the alleged removal of some components on the railway track by some vandals.
A passenger, who is a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Dr. Feyi Leo, told PUNCH that fear gripped her and other passengers, when the train was forced to stop.
Leo said the train coming from Lagos to Ibadan was also forced to stop in the opposite direction, and the two trains continued the journey after the damaged section had been fixed.
She said, “The trip was smooth and we had gone past the station at Abeokuta — moving towards Papalanto, when the train stopped and reversed some few meters.
“We were agitated and started asking questions. An announcement was made by the NRC official on board that, their technicians were fixing a fault on the track, and that it would not take long.
“True to their word, we left after 20 minutes of stoppage. But I was afraid while the whole thing lasted because of the materials on my laptop. There is no backup, and it would have been a huge loss if anything had happened to my laptop.”
Another passenger, who identified himself as Promise, said, the temporary stoppage caused panic on board the train, but added that, there were armed security agents on board, and with the technicians, who fixed the damaged track.
It was gathered that a similar incident happened two times in January: the trains were forced to stop for about 35 minutes, before they continued with the journey.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said that Investigation is ongoing to find out how some clips on the Lagos-Ibadan rail tracks were removed.
Regional District Manager in charge of Lagos for the NRC, Engineer Jerry Oche explained that after the trains were forced to stop, the removed clips were replaced and the trains continued on their journey afterwards.
According to Engineer Oche, “the trains have since reached their destinations after the removed parts were replaced.
“Investigation is ongoing to know who removed them because when our team got there, nobody was seen around there even though the clips were no longer on the rail tracks.
“But we are investigating to know who removed them and why.”
