Various groups, including youths and other professionals, have joined the #SecureNorth protest in northern Nigeria, which was organized by some legal practitioners.
The #SecureNorth protest was organized to demand justice for vulnerable Nigerians who are killed daily by terrorist organizations such as armed bandits and Boko-haram.
Insecurity is increasingly consuming the lives and properties of innocent citizens in Nigeria, particularly in the northwest. However, the groups staged a peaceful protest across the north in a bid to bring an end to the rising insecurity.
While speaking to journalists, the convener of the #SecureNorth protest in Kano state, Bar Abba Hikima, expressed worry over the increase in fatal killings of innocent citizens by terrorist groups of armed bandits.
Abba further appealed to the Nigerian presidents to equip the Nigerian troops as they are capable of handling criminals bedeviling and sabotaging the security formations of the country.
He did, however, criticize the government’s use of security personnel to contain the protest, suggesting that hoodlums could seize control and wreak chaos in the state.
Right to Protest.
Speaking on matters relating to restricting Nigerians from staging a peaceful protest, Bar. Himkima argued that no Nigerian needs to apply to any security agency before exercising his rights, as Section 39 (1) of the 1999 constitution states that every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.
President Muhammadu Buhari led a protest in 2003 in Kano where security agencies disrupted the protest and President Buhari filed litigation in a case coded ANPP vs IGP where the court ruled in his favor to state that no Nigerians needed permission from police or sister agencies before staging a protest. he added.
Daily Episode learned that many protesters and conveners in some states had been invited by the Department Department of State Services (DSS) for reasons known to them.
The Plan Increase of Petroleum Pump Price Amids Ricing Insecurity.
Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, North West Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), has urged Nigerian governments to halt any plan to raise the price of petroleum, which would lead to insecurity and high living costs.
The groups further allege that the planned increase in fuel prices will worsen the current living conditions of Nigerians, especially those living in remote areas where insecurity is on the rise.
Already, communities in states affected by banditry and kidnapping, such as Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, and Sokoto, have all been abandoned to the mercy of terrorist groups and other criminals.
Women and children have been abused, and many people are brutally killed daily in Kankara, Faskari, Sabon Birni, Batsari, Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Illela, Igabi, Chikun, and the entire southern part of Kaduna State.
The group also expresses concern about school closures as a threat to national development and threatens to organize a protest across the northern states if the governments insist on raising the price of petroleum next year.
