Some residents of the Ungwan Ate in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State have taken to the streets of the community to protest the incessant killings and kidnappings by bandits.
The residents in their scores blocked the entrance of Ungwan Ate–Ungwan Mission road along Kaduna-Kachia highway.
They called on the state government and relevant security agencies to take swift action to protect their lives and properties against the bandits operating in the area.
According to the residents, the bandits have continued to strike at will without meeting any form of resistance from either the state or security forces.
They said that the bandits in an operation which lasted for two long hours on Tuesday, February 11, led to the abduction of one person.
The protesters carried various placards with inscriptions like, ‘The Kaduna government says it has made peace with the bandits, but we are being killed every day in Kachia, and ‘Uncountable souls are there in the bush suffering for offenses they no nothing about’.
Other placards read, ‘We cannot go to farms, for majority of us depend on farming,’ ‘We can not longer sleep with our eyes closed. Who is killing us?’
One of the residents protesting said, “We are not safe anymore. These bandits strike at will, and we have been left to our fate. The government and security agencies need to act fast before more lives are lost.”
The residents also said that the presence of the security operatives in the state is weak and have given the bandits the leverage to attack at will.
