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The Abuja-Kaduna train service taking off from Idu Station, Abuja at 6pm on Friday suffered unusual delay of about hours in order to carry two Nigerian ministers.
        The train was delayed on the instruction of Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who planned to travel to Kaduna alongside his Ministry of Youth and Sports counterpart, Sunday Dare. Credible sources said Mr Amaechi, who planned to board the train from Kubwa Station, about 20 minutes journey from Idu Station, cancelled the journey upon sensing the impending passengers’ ire, leaving Mr Dare and his security detail to continue with the journey. Passengers who spoke to DAILY NIGERIAN said the officials were initially silent about the cause of the delay but some of them later revealed to them on the condition of anonymity that the delay was on the instruction of the Transport minister. We were not informed about the reason for the delay. They checked us in and left us in the coaches waiting endlessly. Some of us came out of the train to observe Magrib and Isha prayers,” one of the angry passengers, Abubakar Sani, told our reporter. As we waited for exactly one hour 40 minutes, we noticed movements of some dignitaries and the train superintendents ordered us to quickly go back into the coaches for the journey. Some of the passengers then accosted the dignitaries and their security aides. Even as we were being calmed down, some of the angry passengers met the Minister of Sports at his seat to express their dismay. Spokesman for the Minister of Transport David Iyofor neither responded to our reporter’s call nor replied to a text message seeking the minister’s response. The Minister of Sports’ mobile number has been switched off since Saturday afternoon.