BY JULIET EKWENUGO
Kaduna
A coalition of youths under the auspices of Voice of the Youth in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest in Kaduna, demanding urgent government action to curb rising insecurity and secure the release of abducted victims across parts of the country.
The protesters, who marched through major streets of the metropolis, carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘Nigeria is bleeding,’ ‘Enough is enough,’ and ‘End insecurity now.’
Leader of the group, Fatima Ibrahim Igabi, said the protest was driven by what she described as the worsening wave of kidnappings and violent attacks affecting families in Nigeria.
She lamented that insecurity had left no community untouched, with children, women and other vulnerable persons increasingly becoming targets of abduction.
“Our country is bleeding. Our children are dying, and our mothers are being kidnapped. We are here to demand security in Nigeria and to call on the President to bring back our children abducted in places like Oyo and Borno States.”
Igabi said the group’s agitation was not influenced by politics or population strength but by the urgent need to safeguard lives and restore confidence in the country’s security system.
“Whether we are many or few, we will continue to come out peacefully until security in Nigeria improves. We need a standard system that protects everyone,” she said.
She further decried the spread of insecurity to rural communities, noting that cases of kidnappings had become frequent in parts of Southern Kaduna and other vulnerable areas.
The protesters called on both federal and state governments to intensify rescue operations for abducted persons and strengthen the country’s security architecture.
