No fewer than 172 people have been killed in Benue and Kaduna states in one month.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the deaths occurred as a result of banditry, terrorism and inter-communal clash between March 22 and April 22, 2023.
The most recent attack occurred on Thursday, March 23, when terrorists reportedly shot dead the minister in charge of ECWA Church, Buda II, Kasuwa Magani, in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Reverend Musa Mairimi.
Also on April 15, bandits attacked Runji Village in the Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, leaving about 33 people dead and over 40 houses reportedly burnt.
In Benue State, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, one person and four others were killed when farmers were attacked in Otukpo LGA and Atakpa community respectively.
Similarly, on April 2, 2023, some gunmen invaded a church at Akenawe, Tswarev in Ukemberagya/Tswarev council ward of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State and killed one.
On April 3, 2023, three persons comprising a community leader and two others were killed following an attack at Igbobi at Igbobi in the Apa Local Government Area of the state.
On April 4, three persons were killed before another attack took place on Wednesday April 5, 2023, when 46 people were killed by gunmen in a village, Umogidi of Entekpa Adoka district in the Otukpo Local Government Area.
On Friday, April 7, 2023, 34 people taking refuge at a primary school in Mgban community, Nyiev council ward in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State were killed by suspected herders.
In the late hours of Monday April 10, 2023, some invading herders, who attacked Guma, Logo and Tarka local government areas, killed 25 people, while many others were seriously injured.
On Thursday, April 20, 2023, no fewer than 20 persons were said to have lost their lives when some bandits attacked some of the residents who were in their farms in Waya, Jato-Aka, Turan and villages in Mbabuande and Mbapa Council Wards of Kwande and Gwer West Local Areas of Benue state.
Addressing the increasing rate of insecurity in Kaduna State, a security expert and Managing Director of Beacon Consulting Limited, Kabir Adamu stated that non-state actors such as bandits and terrorists were challenging the supremacy of the state.
He said it was the responsibility of the government to protect the state from being taken over by them, adding that aside from banditry and terrorism, there were attacks orchestrated by ethnic groups over land and political disputes.
According to him, the situation worsened because of the lack of willingness of the government, communities and individuals to provide security and live in peace.
He said, “There are Islamic jihadists that are partnering with the bandits. Apart from that, there are issues of inter-communal crisis between the ethnic groups. At the centre of that matter are land disputes among them.
“In order to achieve their interests, each of them uses these militias to attack each other, but you rarely hear this in the media. Sometimes, all of these groups are engaged in political violence to achieve a particular objective.”
“From the first attack in the early 90s in this cycle, there had been several commissions of enquiries and judicial commission that had been set up and most of them have made far-reaching recommendations, but none of those recommendations has ever been implemented as a result of that desire to be politically correct.”
A security analyst, Nnamdi Anekwe-Chive, blamed the government for failing in its responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens.
He said, “It’s about the government not living up to its responsibility to protect the lives of citizens, otherwise there would have been a proper security framework in place to counter the attacks. Normally the State government should work with the Federal government to deploy whatever votes have been allocated to fight insecurity.”
Also, a security expert, Dickson Osagie decried the situation, noting the importance of decentralising the policing system.
Meanwhile, over 2,000 Nigerians have been killed across the country in the first quarter of 2023, Sunday PUNCH learnt.
According to the 2023 Nigeria Security Report by Beacon Intel which was obtained by our correspondent on Friday, a total of 2,327 fatalities were recorded between January and March 2023.
A breakdown of these fatalities, according to the geopolitical regions, showed that the North-East suffered the highest with 787 deaths, followed by the North-West with 695 casualties, North-Central with 377 victims, South-East with 185, South-West with 167, and South-South with 116.
Speaking with our correspondent, a retired Colonel, Hassan Stan-Labo, said, “The killing of Nigerians is as a result of banditry, ongoing attacks in communities. The present government that is preparing to exit has never taken too seriously in the last eight years our security situation. We have a government that is non-sensitive, nonchalant and has not shown commitment towards taking care of the people.”
