Kidnapped Girls: Group protests in Lagos, Kano
Adetokunbo Fakeye with agency report
Some members of civil society organisations, under the aegis of Kano Civil Society Forum, on Wednesday according to News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, staged a peaceful protest against the abduction of 230 girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno.
The protesters, who wore black clothes, marched from Pounded Yam Restaurant on Lodge Road to Government House, Kano carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “’bring back our girls’’.
While the one in Kano went undisturbed the Lagos one this morning was distrupted by Nigeria Policemen who allegedly shot tear-gas into the protesters
Also gunshots were allegedly fired by the officers in an attempt to break the protest but the protesters stood their ground.
The crowd were said to also protesting the hike in the school fees of the Lagos State University, Ojo.
Fully armed police officers according to a report joined the protesters as they march from CMS bus stop in Lagos Island towards Victoria Island.
The leader of the civil society group that organised Kano protest, Amina Hanga, said, “we are not happy that up until now these girls are yet to be rescued or released.
“As mothers and sisters, we feel very disturbed about the situation and hope government will do something urgently about the issue.”
She called on the Federal Government to take drastic measures to ensure that the girls were rescued from the insurgents.
“We are calling on the federal government and security agents to bring back our girls and other women in captivity.
“We are disturbed that 16 days after the girls were abducted; there is no positive news from the government concerning their safety or chance of being rescued.
“Worse still is the news coming out that most of the girls have been ferried abroad and allegedly married off to insurgents’’, she said.
She promised that the protest would continue until the government was able to rescue the girls.
The peaceful protesters later submitted a letter to Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso for onward delivery to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr. Kwankwaso promised to deliver the letter to the President.