Skip to main content

#SaveTheNorth Protest: Co-convener Blasts Buhari Over Harassment Of Organisers By Department Of State Services, Vows To Resist Intimidation

December 12, 2021

The protesters said they were fed up and could no longer fold their hands and watch their people being slaughtered by bandits.

Following the interrogation of Zainab Naseer Ahmed, the Co-convener of the #SaveTheNorth and #NoMoreBloodshed protest embarked upon by youths in Northern Nigeria by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Kano, the movement has vowed not to be intimidated into keeping silent.

The movement also insisted that instead of backing out, it will rather mobilise more Nigerian youths from all parts of the country to join the mass action against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Image

It put the blame on President Buhari because of his failure to address the security challenges in the country.
The movement had on Friday embarked on a protest with the following inscriptions on their placards: #SaveTheNorth; #NorthernLivesMatter; #NorthIsBleeding; #SecureOurLives; #EnoughIsEnough; and #NoMoreBloodShed.
The protesters said they were fed up and could no longer fold their hands and watch their people being slaughtered by bandits.
The movement described the gruesome killing of at least 23 travellers in a bus in Sokoto State as an indication of a failed state.
 
In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Saturday, another Co-convener of the group, Zainab Ahmed, popularly known as Bint Hijazi, who led the protest in Abuja, said the movement would resist any attempt by the Buhari regime to intimidate them into keeping silent, using security operatives.
 [story_link align="left"]102203[/story_link]
She said as long as the bandits continue to kill their people and raze their crops and farmlands, they would not give up the struggle.
According to her, the mass action against the President because of his failure to protect lives and property, which is the primary responsibility of any government as enshrined in the 1999 constitution, will be sustained.
 
The activist said they were focused and undaunted despite the invitation of one of them by the secret police, DSS.
She explained that the DSS invited Zainab Naseer Ahmed shortly after the protest with a view to intimidating and forcing her to chicken out of the protest.
 
She said another member of the movement, Ibrahim Birniwa has also been invited by the secret police in Kano.
 
She said, "The security operatives collected her phone when they invited her for interrogation and typed the message that she is backing out of the protest because it may be hijacked by the hoodlums after grilling her for several hours immediately after the protest in Kano on Friday.
 
"We refused to be intimidated, they are trying to silence us. We are not going to stop as long as our people are being killed by the bandits and as long as they are razing our crops and farmlands.
 
"They are trying to intimidate innocent people who are trying to speak up against the killing in the country. We are calling on our Southern brothers to join us. This is a fight for Nigerians.
 
"We will continue the protest and we will not stop."

Topics
ACTIVISM