By Ismail Auwal
The series of protests organized by youths across northern Nigeria to draw President Muhammad Buhari’s attention to the prevailing Insecurity in the country has come to a halt after the Department of State Security Services (DSS) invited the organizers across the states.
The protest was organized just a few days after gunmen suspected to be bandits burnt to ashes over 30 passengers in Sokoto.
The angry youths were sighted in Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara, and Sokoto States, and the FCT displaying placards to show their frustration with what is happening in the northern Nigeria.
SAHELIAN TIMES gathered that the DSS invited and detained the organizers in Kano, Bauchi, and Kaduna for several hours.
The paper monitored a regular trend of postings by the activists shortly after they were released by the Department of Security Service.
Zainab Nasir, who was detained for several hours, distanced herself from the planned protest on Saturday and urged others not to participate in the future protests, because some bad elements were “planning to hijack the protest.”
The protesters in Bauchi also deleted all postings that have to do with the protest from their Facebook pages.
One of the organisers has confirmed to our reporter that the postings were removed on the orders of the DSS.
“I will not even attempt to attend any other protest in this country again. May God protect us all,” a Bauchi activist said.
Majida Muhammad Sani, in Kaduna State, who could not be reached for comment at the time of writing this report to confirm if she had been invited by the DSS, has also distanced herself from the planned protest on Saturday.
MB Buhari also wrote, ” I am displeased to announce that for the main time, we will be pending this protest due to the credible intelligence report shared by the security agencies, that the protest would be hijacked.”
Security situation in northern Nigeria had worsened with increasing banditry in Northwest and North Central.
On Thursday, 15 more worshippers were killed in Niger state, and gunmen also assassinated Katsina State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr Rabe Nasir, in another incident.
These attacks by bandits and terrorists have taken a toll on people in the past few years despite efforts by the government to contain them.
