Barely 24 hours after #EndInsecurityNow called off their protests in the North, another group has emerged, storming Kaduna streets with #SecureNorth protest.
The protesters who took to the streets of Kaduna Tuesday afternoon said they were on a peaceful protest against insecurity bedeviling the Northern region and the entire Nigeria, while demanding for the safety of the people.
Spokesman of the protesters, Mustapha Bulama said Northern Nigeria has been suffering from Boko Haram insurgency for more than a decade without respite. He said protest by the #SecureNorth Movement is to pressurise Nigerian government to rise up to the security challenges bedeviling the North and by extension the whole country.
He said, “In the past five years, we have seen the rise of cattle rustling, farmer-herders’ conflict, banditry and kidnapping, countless lives have been lost, across the North particularly in Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna, Plateau, Sokoto, and Taraba states.
“According to UN High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR), over 3.4 million people have been displaced, including over 2.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inNorth-eastern Nigeria, over 684,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger and 294,000 refugees in the four countries.
“According Amnesty International at least 1,126 people in the North of the country have been killed between January and August 2020. The organization interviewed civilians in Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states, who said they live in fear of attacks and abductions as insecurity escalates in rural areas.
“The insecurity in the Northern part of Nigeria is also one of the leading causes of food insecurity, affecting food and agriculture in Nigeria and Africa. It has also affected movement, commerce, education and other social lives of Nigerians leading to increase in poverty.
“This administration promised to tackle insecurity in Nigeria among other things. The government has an obligation to protect its population. The rising death toll in the North of Nigeria shows just how badly the authorities are failing in this responsibility.
“Therefore, our demands are that, The President should come out and specifically address the nation in a public broadcast on what his administration is doing to bring anend to insecurity in the country.
“The President should visit villages, communities and major IDP camps affected by insecurity to condole with the victims and provide transparent humanitarian relief to IDPs across the North. The administration should swiftly bring an end to Boko Haram insurgency.
“The administration should take massive action to tackle bandits and kidnappers across the country using modern technology, provide stationed securities along Abuja-Kaduna highway. The government should also immediately reform Nigeria Police Force.
“We also want the government to immediately bring an end to ASUU strike and change academic curriculum to reflect modern day realities. We are also demanding immediate migration to 100 per cent electoral reforms with electronic voting.
“Finally, we seek increase in salaries of our doctors, nurses, teachers, police, military officers and men, and civil servants, as well as provision of more enabling environment for young Nigerians to thrive.”
They however marched to the Kaduna state government house to submit their request to Governor Nasir el-Rufai for onward transfer to President Muhammadu Buhari, promising that, government’s failure to respond to their demands will lead to a bigger protest.
