Angry residents of Gashish of Kassa District in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State, on Monday, poured into the streets of the community to protest incessant attacks and killing of their people by terrorists and bandits despite the presence of soldiers and a military checkpoint in the area.
The protesters, who were in their thousands and made up of youths, men, and women, reportedly destroyed the military checkpoint and openly demanded the immediate exit of the military personnel from their communities over what they described as failure to protect them from repeated attacks by suspected Fulani gunmen.
According to the angry protesters, the soldiers were not doing enough to protect them from repeated attacks as they often fail to respond to distress calls whenever they are attacked, only to surface after each attack and arrest innocent people.
Some of the protesters, who spoke to newsmen, expressed their frustration with the military, saying that despite the heavy presence of soldiers, attacks, killings, and insecurity have continued unabated in the area.
One of the leaders of the demonstration, Mercy Dachung, said:
“The soldiers are here, yet we are still dying. If they cannot protect us, they should leave our land.”
Other protesters echoed similar sentiments, decrying the recurring invasion of their communities despite the presence of military personnel.
“It is either that the security forces are ineffective or complicit in the ongoing violence. As such, we demand that they be withdrawn since they cannot protect us. We thd youths of Kassa are ready to defend our communities,” a youth leader, Dung Peter said.
Another protester, Ibrahim John, also echoed similar frustration:
“We have suffered for too long in the hands of these attackers whom we know to be Fulani herdsmen. For how long shall we continue to be killed without anything being done to stop them? We have lost confidence in the military. They should go back to their barracks as their presence in Kassa is not helping us.”
Efforts to get comments from the Media Information Officer of Operation Enduring Peace, OPEP, Captain Polycarp Oteh, before going to press proved abortive, as he neither responded to calls nor messages dropped on his WhatsApp platform.
