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Passengers travelling by train from Agbor in Delta State to Itakpe in Kogi State were left stranded for several hours on Wednesday after their train broke down in a remote forested area of Kogi.
One of the stranded passengers, Kola Edokpayi, took to Facebook to recount the terrifying ordeal, describing it as both “horrific” and “terrible.”
According to Edokpayi, he had opted for the train journey after being unable to secure a flight to Abuja. However, the trip soon took an unexpected and frightening turn when the train developed a serious fault deep within what he called an “evil forest” — an isolated stretch without mobile network service and surrounded by Fulani cattle herders.
Sharing his experience, Edokpayi wrote:
“I couldn’t get a flight to Abuja today, I decided to board a train from Agbor to Itakpe, Kogi State en route Abuja.
On getting to an evil forest without network in Kogi, the train developed technical issues that couldn’t be fixed immediately.
Passengers became apprehensive while stranded in the forest dominated by Fulani herders and their cows.”
As fear mounted among the stranded travellers, some passengers, including Edokpayi, decided to embark on what he described as an “endurance trek” through the dense forest in search of help or a nearby town.
“We decided to embark upon an endurance trek to quickly get to town. We trekked for more than three hours and are still trekking to the train station.
What interests me is that all the Fulani herders in the forest we encountered were so friendly and they assisted us while we were navigating the evil forest,” he said.
The long trek, however, was particularly challenging for elderly passengers, some of whom nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
Reflecting on the harrowing experience in a follow-up post after he finally arrived in Abuja on Thursday, Edokpayi wrote:
“Thank God for safe arrival in Abuja this morning. It was a terrible and horrific experience in the wilderness.
While embarking upon the unsolicited endurance trek, I took solace in the book of Psalm 23:4, which says ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.’”
He further narrated how the group struggled with thirst and fatigue, noting that an elderly man who had joined them in the trek nearly lost his life.
“Having trekked for hours, I became sinewless with no water to drink to resuscitate myself, we kept on trekking in the forest until we saw bike riders coming with bikes, they told us point-blank that they wanted to go and rescue their co-workers who were also stranded in the forest.
An old man who trekked with us for about 30 minutes almost died, we had to assist him to be alive. Thank God that he is alive to share the testimony of what God did for him and other travellers.”
Eventually, the group encountered motorcyclists and rescue vehicles dispatched to evacuate the stranded passengers from the forest.
“The genuine Fulani cattle herders in the forest were very friendly. We give thanks to God that at the time of the unsolicited endurance trek in the forest, the terroristic bandits were in deep slumber.
We trekked to almost where there was a hill before we sighted vehicles coming to pick up passengers. At that point, we started rushing into the vehicles with the last strength. Thank God that we all arrived at our various destinations safely.”
Despite the relief of surviving the ordeal, Edokpayi criticised the poor state of Nigeria’s transport system, warning that the incident could have ended in tragedy.
“I don kawalelogran for train oooo until government address the issue. The fear of train for me is the beginning of wisdom.
“The Federal Government needs to be proactive enough to ensure that the trains are in a better state for the safety of passengers.
“Airline operators go dey cancel flight anyhow, we fear kidnappers for road wey still bad. Train dey spoil for evil forest dominated by herders.
“Make God continue to help us ooo in Bongo. Welcome to Bongo, the heartbeat of abracadabra.”
