Northern women group, Jam’iyyar Mayan Arewa (JMA) have demanded for a national conference or referendum to address the increased insecurity, killings and banditry ravaging parts of the country, especially the North.

The women who took to the street to protest, held up placards which read “#Stop Banditry in Arewa,” “#Stop Killing Northerners,” “#Safe Arewa,” “#Referendum is the Answer,” and “#Jaw Jaw not War War” among others.

They also said that children have been turned to orphans in the country due to insecurity. JMA President, Hajiya Rabi Musa Saulawa who addressed newsmen in Kaduna said;

“Our beloved country is sadly at the precipice. The Northern part of Nigeria has become the epicentre of the perennial crisis of epic proportions from all fronts. The North is endowed with untapped human and natural resources that can propel Nigeria as a superpower.

“Regrettably, for the past 12 years, the North has been under a relentless onslaught by Boko Haram insurgents and of recent incessant banditry, herders’-farmers’ clashes of the unknown origin with its attendant impact on the socio-economic development of the region and the country at large.”