#SecureNorth protesters could not only be dispersed by police operatives but the DSS, a security unit directly under Aso Rock control
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari’s kinsmen have joined other #SecureNorth protesters across the region to demand that he stops the carnage being perpetrated by bandits.
TheNiche had reported that at least 23 people were burnt to death a few days ago by bandits in Sokoto.
In October, bandits attacked a market in Sokoto and killed more than a dozen traders.
In Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, the story is the same – rape, killings and kidnappings, all carried out by bandits.
In Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the cousins of the bandits – Boko Haram, spills the blood of the innocent in the name of entrenching Sharia, an Islamic legal code.
In Plateau and Benue, Fulani herdsmen wage territorial war against men, women and children, including farm produce.
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This insecurity on northern highways, schools, villages and urban centres has sparked off protests in Kano, Katsina and Kaduna. The demand of the protesters is for the president, Muhammadu Buhari to secure their region in what they tagged as #SecureNorth, #StopTheBleeding.
The protesters, according to Daily Trust, trooped to the streets of Katsina to register their grievances over the spate of the killings in the state and other parts of the country.
In Kaduna, another group of protesters also marched the streets and to the government house to register their frustration in the inability of the government to secure their lives and properties.
The Katsina protesters, who wielded placards, had converged on Kofar Soro roundabout, emir’s palace.
Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar Unguwa, National Secretary of Muryar Talaka (Voice of the masses), one of the conveners of the protest, told journalists that the protest was planned to draw the attention of the government “to take the right steps towards addressing the degenerating and debilitating challenge of insecurity in the north and the country as a whole”.
“Today nobody is safe, even those living in the cities. We are all aware of the gruesome murder of the Katsina state Commissioner of Science and Technology, Dr Rabe Nasir, which shows that even those living in the cities are not safe.
“Many are still held in captivity, in kidnappers’ dens, many are killed. You cannot even travel from Katsina to Sokoto through Jibia road due to activities of Kidnappers.
“Today, we even have parallel government run by bandits’ warlords in some parts of the country. So, we want to draw the attention of the governments to do the needful as we join our brothers and sisters protesting all over the country,” he said.
He added that the strategy used by the security agents had failed as they always wait for the attack only to be on the defensive side, saying there was the need to take the war to the enemies’ doorsteps having known where they are.
Another protester, Jamila Abbas, said as a mother and wife, women are at the receiving end of the consequences of insecurity.
“The killings in the north are on the increase and it affects even the security agents themselves. Therefore, there is the need on the part of the government to be more proactive in tackling the menace,” she said.
But midway into their protest, a combined team of the DSS and the police swooped on them. In the fear of arrest, many of them scampered for safety.