By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
A group, Coalition of Northern Groups, has accused the #EndSARS of having selfish motives other than their demand for the Police Special Squads to be disbanded.
They wondered why the #EndSARS protesters were still on the streets when the government and the Police authority have granted their demands.
The group stated this during a peaceful protest they staged on the streets of Bauchi metropolis on Thursday, demanding an end to terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other social vices which has resulted in the loss of lives and properties in the state and the north in general.
The protesters carried placards bearing different inscriptions such as: “Stop the killings in the North,” “Stop Rape Now,” “Arewa is Bleeding,” “End Banditry Now,” “#EndInsecurityNow,” “End Kidnapping Now,” “End Boko Haram,” “All Lives Matters,” among other inscriptions.
The group which expressed its grievances and displeasure that no government official was on ground to receive and address them after standing at the gate for close to an hour.
The protesters disrupted free flow of traffic in and out of the Government House.
Speaking with journalists at the Bauchi Government House gate, the Secretary of the CNG, Abdulkadir Alkassim, said that the #EndSARS protests going on in parts of the country as “regional protests.”
He said that their protest is aimed at calling on the government to end insecurity challenges in northern Nigeria.
He said: “The position of our group is to support the government in their attempt to reform the Nigeria Police for the good of the nation. This is not a regional demand but a demand for the good of Nigerians.
“This protest (#EndSARS) in the southern part of the country from the lens of a regional protest and it is selfish that is why we have come out to tell the government that we are in support of the Police in every manner.
“Nobody will dare to scrap SARS or scrap this newly formed unit of the Police SWAT, we are rather here to confirm that we are with them and we are so willing and passionate to support them.
“Of course, their demand is for selfish reason because you see that their demands have been met, why are they still protesting? That is why we are here to tell the world that we are not in the same page with them and we are not in support of them.”
Alkassim said that they are worried about the insecurity in the north that is why they are out on the street protesting.
“We demand that they should empower and equip this new formed unit in the Police with the resources and all they need to do their work in order to have a lasting solution to these challenges,” he stated.
Also speaking, the leader of the group, Bello Aminu, said that the Coalition of Northern Groups was different from the #EndSARS because they demand an end to insecurity rather than the scraping of any Police Unit.
He said: “That is why we are different from them (#EndSARS). When they said #EndSARS, maybe they have their reasons for demanding that and the government responded to their demands and yet, they continued with their protest, they kept pushing.
“But now, we are saying that since SARS has been scrapped and SWAT created, we are telling Nigerians to come out and rally for SWAT and see how they can fight these insecurities.
“We are calling on the federal government to recruit more security personnel not to scrap any part of the security, they should be equipped so that they can face the challenges of the country.”
However, after a long wait, the Permanent Secretary, Political, Government House, Aliyu Jibo, came out to address the protesters.
He apologized to them on behalf of the government for not receiving them on time saying that the Governor, Bala Mohammed, would have personally received them but could not because of other official engagements.