Some protesters marched to the
presidential villa in Abuja on Saturday over the persistent killings in Zamfara
state.
Suspected armed bandits have killed
many people in the state.
On Friday, Sanusi Rikiji, speaker
of the state house assembly, went on a condolence visit to Kaura Namoda emirate
where at least 50 members of the civilian joint task force (CJTF) were killed
in a single day.
Despite the deployment of a
thousand security personnel on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari in July
2018, the security situation has not improved.
Abdulaziz Yari, governor of
Zamfara, has been criticised for not doing enough to curb the activities of
these bandits.
On one occasion, Yari said he had
resigned as the chief security officer of the state.
 |
| Some of the protesters |
During the march, the protesters held placards which read “Shame on Yari”, “Silence is not an option”, ‘Nigeria is a failed state’, among others.
Speaking with journalists,
Kadaria Ahmed, media personality and one of the conveners of the protest,
blamed the governor for not showing “enough concern about killings” in the
state.
Ahmed said Yari only cared “about
the people of Zamfara when it comes to politics.”
“Our people are being killed like
flies and it does not seem to matter to anybody, so that is why we are here and
that is why we are marching,” she said.
“As far as I am concerned, that
governor is the most useless in the history of Nigeria. This is a governor
whose reaction to the killings in his state was to resign as chief security
officer. He went on the record to say that he cannot be chief security officer.
I don’t know what he is still doing in office.
 |
| Policemen preventing them from marching into Aso Rock |
“How can a govern a state for
eight years from Abuja? What sort of leadership is that? We thank God he is on his
way out. Under him, Zamfara has detorariated. I grew up in Zamfara, the Zamfara
I grew up was peaceful, we had textile, we had sweet factories.”
Ahmed asked the president to show
the people of Zamfara that he cares about them.
“We are asking for Muhammadu
Buhari, the president of Nigeria, to show the people of Zamfara the same regard
they have shown for him,” she said.
“For two elections, they have
come out now in large numbers to vote for him, can he for goodness sake show
that he cares about them. Can he provide security so that we can sleep in our
homes.”
Amir Salisu, one of the
protesters, said it is sad that the government had not been able to do anything
to address the security situation in the state.
“It is sad that that governor has
not been able to do anything about the security crisis in Zamfara,” he said.
“For eight years we have seen the
security situation of the state get worse under him. It is not late for a state
of emergency to be declared in the state. Yari has failed woefully. Buhari
should act now.”
No official from the villa spoke
to the protesters at the time of filing this report.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com