October 21, (THEWILL) – Hundreds of women in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State have blocked Gusau-Kaduna road to protest persistent attacks by bandits.
Gusau-Kaduna road links the state to several other states both in the North and the South.
The women carried their children and belongings sat on the road, refusing to allow the motorists to pass through the road.
This resulted in traffic and hundreds of motorists were stranded.
One of the women, Sadiya said they decided to come out to protest because the bandits were “always attacking and raping them and there was no action taken by the security agents to protect them”.
“We blocked the road in order to draw the attention of both the government and the security agents to come to our rescue”, she said.
Another woman, Talatu Sani, said, she left her village of Cediya because the bandits used to go to the village to rape women and steal their food and animals.
Her words: “I have to join the protest because the authorities are not doing anything to protect us from this hopeless situation.”
The State Police Command has not issued any statement on the development.
in a related development, a member representing Talata-Mafara North constituency in the State House of Assembly, Honourable Shamsudden Hassan, on Thursday escaped lynching during the screening exercise of two nominees.
The lawmaker reportedly challenged the nomination of one of the nominees, Hajiya Rabi Ibrahim Shinkafi.
Hassan, who opposed her new appointment to serve as a commissioner, said she was a total failure during her tenure as a special adviser in the state under Governor Bello Matawalle.
He said, “If the House is to screen her based on her previous performance, she will not scale through because she has scored zero.”
But before he finished his observation, some youths who were in the gallery of the House descended heavily on him, throwing all sorts of insulting words, telling him to shut up or face severe consequences.
Some angry youth had threatened assault on the lawmaker if not for the quick intervention of the security personnel working in the House.
Expressing their dismay over the issue, the Assembly in a statement by the Director-General, Press Affairs and Public Relations of the House, Mustafa Jafaru Kaura said, “Apparently not satisfied with the unruly behaviour of supporters of government nominees that usually escort them to the House for screening, the House has today resolved to ban supporters from attending its plenaries at the gallery.
“This decision was reached at today’s plenary when some members of the House of Assembly made some observations with some commissioners and special Advisers nominees sent to the House for confirmation by the state Governor Bello Muhammad MON (Matawallen Maradun)”.
The House leader, Hon Faruk Musa Dosara and Hon Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma condemned in totality the barbaric unruly and undemocratic behaviour of the supporters and called on their colleagues to prevail on this matter to forestall the future occurrence of this ugly situation.
After much deliberation and debate on the matter by the Hon members, Speaker Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya while condemning the act by these hoodlums consoled his colleagues and apologised to them for the disgrace they received from the political thugs.
He ruled that henceforth only three humble and respected supporters are allowed to escort any government nominee to the House for screening and confirmation.
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