Angry residents of Anguwar-Magaji, in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State, yesterday blocked the ever-busy Kaduna-Abuja highway in protest over the incessant attacks on the community by marauding bandits.
This caused thousands of travellers along the highway who were left stranded in the guagmire to lament the road blockade.
However, members of the Anguwar-Magaji community said the protest was done to draw the attention of the government to constant attacks on the community by bandits.
One of the community members said they could no longer tolerate the unprovoked attacks of the bandits, who had prevented them from going to their farms and now coming to attack them at home.
Even when newsmen visited the scene, the angry protesters insisted that no one will pass. They also shunned the security personnel who were appealing to them to reopen the road.
Both women and children, some of whom were seen half-naked, were mobilised to the highway for the protest which held around Angwar-Doma before the Kakau interchange flyover.
Some of the residents said bandits stormed the residence of the village head and abducted his family as well as other residents of the community.
A resident of the area lamented that they were not safe at home and their farms as bandits terrorised them.
“We cannot go to our farms and yet they will follow us to our homes to abduct us for ransom. They killed a 13-year-old girl, a security man in the village as well as abducted other residents including the family of the village head”, he stated.
He explained that the residents only want security or to be allowed to protect themselves against the bandits.
