Residents of some communities in Kaduna State on Sunday protested the repeated kidnappings in their areas.
They were Nariya and Kanama communities who blocked the Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway during the protest.
Speaking to newsmen, a resident of Nariya, Mr. Johanna lamented incessant cases of kidnapping since the last few months saying, “we are no longer safe in our homes.”
According to him, every week, they witness one kidnapping or the other, adding that kidnappers make huge demand of money from family of victims.
“In some cases, the victims lost their lives in the process.
“Just last week, a pregnant woman was kidnapped in Chokoliko village. Few hours later, another was kidnapped in Nassarawa village. They later made huge demand of money from family of their victims. As I am talking with you, the one kidnapped in Nassarawa is yet to return, because the family could not afford to pay the ransom. We couldn’t sleep in the night for fear of being kidnapped, we couldn’t stay out in the night or go far from home.” He added.
Another resident of Kunama community, Mrs. Iliya Bilkisu said her husband was kidnapped two months ago, but was released after ransom was paid.
“My husband was kidnapped right in the evening at the gate of our house when he was returning from work. He spent three weeks at the den of kidnappers. We even thought, they have killed him. He walked to the house one evening. We were surprised and happy to see him because we paid the money demanded, but they did not release him till after two weeks.”
She called on the law enforcement agencies to strengthen their operations in and around Kaduna to ensure that kidnappers were wiped out from the state.
It would be recalled that on Saturday, a foreign female tourist and one other were killed, while three others were kidnapped in Kajuru Castle Resort, in Kajuru Local Government.
