Protesting Parents Block Road. The parents, mostly women, carried leaves, and were chanting “enough is enough”, “we won’t leave here,” “we want our children back”, “we are tired of kidnapping and killings,” among others.
All entreaties to disperse the parents failed, forcing one of the soldiers to shoot into the air, but the parents remained adamant, saying they were “ready to die here” without their children.
It was gathered that the protesting parents left the road at 3pm.
One of the parents, Mrs Caroline Emmanuel, who said her only surviving child was among the abducted students, noted that government was not doing enough in securing the lives and property of the people of the state.
According to her, even at home nobody is safe, adding that in her community at Nissi village, bandits are on a daily basis ravaging the area and killing residents.
She, therefore, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state.
She said, “I have only one child and he is my only surviving child and the government is not doing anything
“One thing should be noted, bandits have been killing us.
They entered the Nissi community two weeks ago. They kidnapped people at Nissi.
The bandits have been kidnapping people and killing them anyhow. We can’t even go to farm. We can’t do anything again.
“Now they are coming to schools. Enough is enough. A state of emergency should be declared in Kaduna, if El-Rufai cannot do anything. He has failed. He is not doing anything. They (security agents) just come blowing siren.
They should go into the bush if they are serious.
“They have refused to enter the bush and a soldier is firing bullets here to disperse harmless parents, who are protesting on the road, carrying just leaves. Why should they fire bullets in the midst of aggrieved parents when they are supposed to be in the forest rescuing our children. Why, why?
“Since morning, at 4am that we have been here, no soldier or policeman has entered the bush in search of the kidnapped students.
“But he is here firing bullets at innocent parents that are just holding leaves. For what now? For what? What kind of betrayal is this, a state of emergency should be declared in Kaduna State.”
Another parent, Esther Joseph, said she visited the school on Saturday and wanted to take her daughter home because of insecurity.
She, however, said the management of the school assured her of adequate security, adding that the school ought to relocate students to another place because of the prevailing security situation.
While the Kaduna State police said security operatives rescued 26 out of the 140 students abducted by the bandits, some of the protesting parents claimed that the force was lying.
The state Police Command’s spokesman, Mohammed Jalige, stated that a combined team of police, Army and Navy gave the bandits a hot chase and rescued 26 students.
According to him, the operation is still going on. He assured parents that the operatives would rescue the students unhurt.