No fewer than 100 Christian and Muslim women in Kwara State on Wednesday protested against the abduction of over 200 girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram sect.
They also declared a three-day of fasting and praying aimed at securing the release of the girls.
The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ambrose Aisabor, who arrived at the Nigerian Union of Journalists office with some policemen, urged the women to protest peacefully and ensured it was not hijacked by hoodlums.
He also promised adequate security during the protest to forestall hoodlums hijacking it or causing violence.
He said, “We already know what is happening in the country and we cannot say because we are in Kwara State, we are not affected. One way or the other we are affected.
“Since you are insisting you want to go to the Government House and the Emir’s Palace, we will allow you to go but security agents will go along with you, because we don’t want your peaceful protest to be hijacked by hoodlums.
“We will allow you to go to those two places as this is not the time for anybody to be shouting up and down and fighting one another. It is a moment of sober reflection. No Nigerian is happy about it. The international community is not happy about it.
“Let all of us join hands together and continue to pray and do what is needful to ensure that these children are rescued.”
The women then matched to the Government House where they were received on behalf of the governor by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Peter Kishira; the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Isiaka Gold; the Chief of Staff, Government, House, Alhaji Toyin Sanusi, and other government officials.
The protesters carried placards with such inscriptions as, ‘Hear the cries of the mothers’; ‘Mothers will not stop crying until the children are released’; ‘These are the future. Don’t let them be destroyed’; Every child counts’; ‘We are helpless. We are incapacitated. We are weak’; ‘Stop shedding blood’; ‘We are here to know the fate of our children’; ‘Who is the next victim; me or you?’
‘Stop killing innocent souls,’ and ‘Kwara women call on our clerics to stand up in prayers’.
Prior to the arrival of the government officials, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ilorin branch, Mr. Bolaji Ojibara, had expressed solidarity with the protesting women and assured them that the men in the state also shared in the agony of the victims. He added that men would also wanted the victims to be released soon and unharmed.
The Coordinator, Coalition of Women Associations in Kwara State, Alhaja Bilqees Oladimeji, decried the harrowing experiences the girls were subjected to.
Source:Punch
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