In the NST report covering attacks from January 2020 and July 25, 2022, it was stated that mass killing and deaths of more than 20 people in one incident, occurred 104 times within the period under review.
A report by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) has stated that about 3,895 Nigerians were killed in 104 attacks between 2020 and 2022 under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration across the country.
In the NST report covering attacks from January 2020 and July 25, 2022, it was stated that mass killing and deaths of more than 20 people in one incident, occurred 104 times within the period under review.
The states mostly affected according to the report were; Sokoto, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Ebonyi, Ondo, Oyo, Borno, Kaduna and Zamfara.
The Buhari government had campaigned on this premise of security and achieved resounding success at the beginning of his first term, “decimating” insurgents in the northern region of the country and instilling sanity in the South.
But the successes of the administration were overshadowed by pockets of mass killings in the country. These killings persist despite government’s tough statements and stance, as well as the successes of the Nigerian military’s war against terror.
These killings garner wide reactions within and outside the country but tend to fizzle out after some time. In some cases, as the country is yet to come to terms with the killings, another attack occurs, shifting the beam light.
The Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), a project of the Council of Foreign Relations’ (CFR) Africa Programme showed that cases of mass killings, with at least 20 causalities, occurred between January 2020 and July 25, 2022, according to the report published by Daily Trust on Saturday.
Meanwhile, 3,895 people were killed in the 104 cases.
In May 2020, the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, had vowed to deal with bandits after 74 people were killed during an attack on Garki, Dan Aduwa Kuzari and Katuma communities in the state. The attack came two days after the governor and top security chiefs in the state engaged traditional rulers and other stakeholders in the area.
In March 2020, bandits killed 51 residents in Kaduna, while 48 persons were killed in Adamawa communal clash in May 2020.
In January 2021, the death toll in the Effium communal clash in Ohaukwu Government Area in Ebonyi State rose to 40. Twenty-five people were later killed the next month in the same communities.
Sixty people were killed by bandits in Zamfara in April 2021; 27 people were earlier killed in February 201 in Niger communities, while over 100 people were killed in Benue as militia gangs sacked four council wards in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area in May, 2021. An attack by gunmen in Odoke, Ndiobasi, Obakotara in Ebonyi State left a death toll of 52.
But within the first half of 2021, one of the two killings that shook the country was the Igangan attack in which more than 20 people were killed in Ibarapa North, Oyo State. The killing got wide condemnation due to the tension brewing in the southern region for secession and manner of the attack, which occurred midnight.
The perceived silence of the president hours after the killing irked the Yoruba Council of Elders and the Ilana Omo Oodua socio cultural groups. The Guardian in its editorial on June 16, 2021 read in part, “There can be no faster route to disintegration than the ominous silence of the federal government to incessant herders-farmers killings in parts of the South and Middle Belt.”
The aftermath of the killing of 93 people in Zamfara by bandits led to the suspension of the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad, while the state government called for self-defence.
Zamfara State was in the news again in 2022 with over 200 people killed in a reprisal attacks by bandits after military airstrikes. The killings came few days after 30 people were killed in Anka Local Government Area in the state.
In April 2022, over 150 people were killed in Kanan and Wase communities in Plateau State. Buhari, also in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, described the killings as heinous, adding that the perpetrators should not be allowed to escape justice.
The country was also thrown into mourning when gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State. The state government said 40 people were killed and 127 others injured.
“Many different forms of violence and conflicts are ongoing in Nigeria, mainly in the North, due to the rooted presence of Boko Haram. In addition, different armed groups are operating in the country, like those in the Niger Delta and South East.
“Nigeria’s high position in the ranking is determined by criteria that include its large population of over 200million people, high child mortality rate, ongoing battle-related deaths, the country’s history of mass killings and its degree of ethnic fractionalisation,” the report stated.