This comes almost week after suspected terrorists bombed the Abuja-Kaduna rail tracks and attacked a train filled with passengers on Monday night.

The NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, made this known in a statement on Monday, stating that the number of safe passengers had risen to 186.

According to him, 51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or unreachable since Tuesday morning and 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing, but no response from the other end.

About 22 persons are reported missing by their relatives and eight persons were confirmed dead, the statement disclosed.

The statement read in part, “51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or have not been reachable since Tuesday morning and 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing, but no response from the other end. 60 phone numbers on the manifest when called, responded non-existent.

“The statement is aimed at updating Nigerians on the ongoing development regarding the clearing of the incident site (recovery of the rolling stock, repairs of the track) and status of Passengers that were onboard the AK9 train of Monday, March 28.

“Of the 362 validated passengers on board the attacked AK9 train service on March 28, 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes (additional 14 persons confirmed safe today).

“Two coaches (SP 00016 and SP 00017) earlier re-railed have safely been moved to Rigasa Station.

“This brings the total number of recovered Coaches and safely moved to NRC Stations to be seven. Intensive work continues on track repairs. More concrete Sleepers were moved to site while some section of twisted tracks has been straightened.

“We remain grateful to the security agencies for all the support. We are very appreciative of Squadron Commander MOPOL 1 Kaduna’s visit to the accident site today.

“NRC will continue to update the general public of developments to prevent misleading information and falsehood.”

Members of the House of Representatives made this call on Thursday at the plenary in the green chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja.

Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson, had raised the matter while addressing his colleagues in the lower house.

The call by the lawmakers to proscribe bandits and their sponsors comes a day after their counterparts in the Senate chamber took a similar stand.

“The Senate on Wednesday, 29th September 2021 adopted a motion asking President Muhammadu Buhari to declare bandits ravaging the northern part of the country terrorists and wage a total war on them,” the lawmaker told his colleagues.

“They also asked that the President declare all known leaders of bandits wanted and arrest them, wherever they were found for speedy prosecution. Such declaration to be done through a Proscription Order can be done pursuant to Section 2 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011 (As Amended).

“I would like to echo the same sentiment and ask honourable colleagues to join the Senate in urging Mr President to declare bandits and their sponsors as terrorists. This will underline the determination of the government to combat the wave of criminality and murders conducted by bandits all over the country.”

Benson explained that declaring bandits as terrorists could be done through a proscription order, to serve as a source of inspiration for security personnel to redouble their efforts towards dealing with the threat.

For him, such declaration – when given the force of law – will renew the resolve of the security personnel in dealing with the menace of banditry, saying the mode of operations and rules of engagement would be scaled up accordingly.

“Declaration of all bandits as terrorists may also encourage other countries to do same and help create a global consensus around dealing with transnational factors that feed the domestic activities of such proscribed organisations and individuals,” he said.

“As previously observed in this House, no [single] action can be a silver bullet to solving our insecurity in Nigeria. But a collection of many effective actions and strategies can bring safety. It is in this spirit that I speak today.

“Insecurity in Nigeria requires an all-of-government approach. Hence, I also urge the President to implement the recommendations of the National Security Summit, which took place in June this year and was officially delivered to Mr President in July. All hands have to be on deck to be able to win this battle against insecurity in all its manifestations.”

Asides designating the activities of the Shiite organisation in any part of Nigeria “as acts of terrorism and illegality”, the court order also restrained “any person or group of persons” from participating in any form of activities involving or concerning the IMN “under any name or platform” in Nigeria.

The court said, “An order of this honourable court proscribing the existence and activities of the respondent (Islamic Movement in Nigeria) in any part of Nigeria, under whatever form or guise either in groups or as individuals by whatever names they are called. An order restraining any person or group of persons from participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise of the respondent (Islamic Movement in Nigeria) under any other name or platform howsoever called or described in any part of Nigeria. An order directing the applicant (the AGF) to publish the order proscribing the respondent (Islamic Movement in Nigeria) in the official gazette and two national dailies.”