Passengers along the ever-busy
Kaduna-Abuja expressway were yesterday stranded as the Sabon Gaya
community in Kaduna State blocked the highway to protest the activities of
kidnappers within their community.
The community members,
mainly youths, took to the highway, calling on government to tackle the menace
of kidnapping, armed robbers and herdsmen’s attack in their area.
The Sunday protest
followed the killing of a member of the community's vigilante group by armed
bandits on Saturday night.
This is coming after
several arrests and parade of suspected kidnappers along the highway by men of
the Nigerian Police.
The villagers blocked the
highway with stones, woods, and set fire to tyres, which prevented passengers
from even coming near the protesters.
The villagers had also
insisted that the state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, address them on the reason
the police and other security agencies had not been able to curtail activities
of bandits.
They are worried that
even with the increasing security presence along the highway; kidnappers were
still having a field day.
The Kaduna-Abuja highway
has been notorious for kidnapping and armed robbery activities for some time
now.
Although the police have
deployed "special forces" to tackle the menace, the community claimed
that criminals have continued to carry out their nefarious activities along the
highway without being challenged.
The villagers said their
lives had become miserable as the villagers couldn’t go to their farms or
markets for business due to fear of kidnaping.
Reacting to the incident,
ASP Aliyu Mukhtar, spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, who confirmed
the incident, said that the villagers were protesting the killing of a member
of local vigilante group in the community.
Mukhtar said: "The
situation has been resolved and things are under control now. What happened was
that armed bandits killed a local vigilante in Sabon Gaya area of Kaduna along
Abuja-Kaduna highway on Saturday, with what happened, the youths blocked
the road and started protesting. “
The image-maker said that
when the command received the news of the protest, it swung into action. Teams
of policemen, led by ACP Abdullahi, raced to the scene and brought the
situation under control.
Mukhtar added: “These people
don’t have the right to block the road because it infringes on the right of
other road users. If they have any grievances, they should follow the
appropriate channels.”
No comments:
Post a Comment