Kidnappings:Villagers barricade expressway in protest

Residents of Sabon Gaya and other villages along Kaduna-Abuja highway last Sunday, blocked the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, to protest the spate of kidnappings and murders from Rijana, Kateri to Bwari, in spite of heavy security presence. ABDULRAHEEM AODU recounts what led to the villagers uprising that left several motorists stranded for hours.

Cause of the road block
Passing through Sabon Gaya town, a community along Kaduna-Abuja road last Sunday, it is difficult to think that this is one of the most dangerous settlements along the express way, where kidnappers kill and abduct at will.

Last Sunday, the town relapsed to its deceptive serenity after the protest of two weeks ago, when youths and women blocked the highway on Novemeber 12, to register their anger over the incessant killing of their people by kidnappers. According to reports, Malam Haruna Maikaji, the head of their vigilante, was killed and his body was brutally dismembered by suspected kidnappers.

Some residents narrated that Malam Haruna was waylaid in his farm by the killers when they got wind of his proposed meeting with other fellow vigilantes, where strategies of how they will complement the efforts of the security agencies will be evolved.

According to reports, the assailants shot him severally but the bullets bounced off Haruna’s body. Thereafter, they stoned and beat him to death with cudgels and other missiles. Afterwards, they cut his lifeless body into bits and pieces, ostensibly to deter those who may wish to contest their authority in ‘their domain’.

Angered by Haruna’s gruesome murder, some youths mobilized and killed three Fulani men in reprisal attacks, before blocking the dual carriageway. Travellers were caught unawares and were held up for four hours and the youths and women demanded that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state must come to their rescue and save them from the reign of terror that has taken over their villages.

Deputy Gov to the rescue
Instead of El Rufai, his deputy Mr Barnabas Bala Bantex and top security officers, including Police Commissioner Agyole Abe, went to the scene to pacify the aggrieved residents of Sabon Gaya. It took the intervention of security agencies including mobile policemen to disperse the protesting villagers, who were ready to resort to self help to express their helpless insecurity. According to the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mukthar Aliyu, much as the people have a right to protest, “it was a wrong way to express their grievances by blocking the road because they denied other road users their rights.’’

He said there are several channels for expressing such grievances ‘’that is why the Commissioner of Police ordered the team to move there and disperse the angry villagers.’’ Aliyu assured that the police have already commenced investigation into the matter to arrest the culprits.

‘’We expect collaboration from the villagers with information that will help in tracking down the killers of the vigilante commander, not taking law into their hands,’’ the Police spokesman had assured.

 

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