Attacks, Kidnappings along Kaduna-Abuja Road National Shame, Says ACF

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has described the attacks and kidnappings along the Kaduna-Abuja road as a national shame, declaring that it is “completely unacceptable”.

The forum, in a statement on Monday by its spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, condemned the killing on Sunday of Alhaji Hamida Sagir, a retired Director of Protocol at the Federal Capital Development Autority (FCDA) and a governorship aspirant in Zamfara State.

Sagir was said to have been killed on Sunday by bandits along the Kaduna-Abuja road while several others were said to have been abducted.

The ACF lamented that on a daily basis, Nigerians are being terrorised, kidnapped and killed without let on the road, noting that both the Kaduna State and the federal government, which owned the highway, appear to be helpless in securing the lives on the road.

The statement said, the ACF “is becoming agitated by the unrestrained acts of terrorism on the strategic highway between Abuja the Federal Capital and Kaduna the former capital of defunct Northern region”.

“On a daily basis, Nigerians are being terrorised, kidnapped and killed without let on this road.

“This is a national shame and completely unacceptable to our forum.

“The latest victim of this act of terror is Alhaji Hamida Sagir, a retired Director of Protocol at the Federal Capital Development Autority FCDA and a governorship aspirant in Zamfara State who was shot and killed at Rijana.

“Indeed Rijana has become a popular spot where these terrorist attacks are committed on a daily and routine basis.

“This is a challenge that the security agencies must overcome. We are worried that everyday Nigerians are attacked at this same spot and our security men seem helpess in sorting out the security problems that make such attacks on the same spot easy,” it said.

The forum called on both the Kaduna and the federal governments to save Nigerians from this security nightmare.

The statement condoled with the immediate family of the slain Sagir and the Zamfara State Goverment and prayed Almighty God to give them the fortitude to bear the tragedy.