- Total of 927 killed in Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger States alone
No fewer than 1,545 persons have been killed by terrorists within the first quarter of 2022, a joint report by the Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities and the Joint Action Civil Society Committee under the aegis of Nigeria Mourns has revealed.
The report also disclosed that at least 1,321 persons were abducted by the terrorists between January 1 and March 30, 2022.
The North-Western states of Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi and North-Central state of Niger, have come under intense attacks by the terrorists.
They have daringly attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, killing two officers and abducting one senior officer. The terrorists, numbering about 200, also invaded the Kaduna Airport on March 26, killing a Nigerian Airspace Management Agency staff member patrolling the runway.
The exchange of gunshot between the criminals and soldiers at the airport also led to the delay in the takeoff of a scheduled aircraft.
Outlining the attacks across the country, the group noted that earlier in the year, some terrorists in Kebbi State killed more than 65 persons in a single attack.
The report stated that in Southern Kaduna, within the three months under review, over 100 deaths were recorded following repeated attacks on several communities in the area.
This is in spite of the fact that Kaduna State is home to several military bases and formations, including the Nigerian Defence Academy and 1 Division, Nigerian Army Barracks and Nigerian Police College, Kaduna, amongst others.
Other attacks in the report included the siege on communities in Niger State, the ‘takeover’ of the Suleja-Abuja Road by terrorists in the past month; the increase in cases of kidnapping in the past month; and the continued killings in the South-East, which claimed many lives.
On March 31, a former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, raised the alarm that bandits blocked the Abuja-Kaduna highway, preventing travellers and other road users from accessing the road. In a tweet on his official Twitter handle, @ShehuSani, he alleged that road users had begun turning back from the road to seek alternative routes and prevent a possible attack on them.
“I just got a distress call that bandits in large numbers have again blocked the Kaduna-Abuja Road this afternoon. Travellers are speedily turning backwards,” the tweet read.
Later in the evening, he wrote, “The kidnappers are freely making calls to the families of their hostages. What happened to the SIM card registration and the NIN (National Identification Number) hoopla?”
Sani had earlier in the day said that with Nigeria’s worsening security situation, Nigerians should be allowed to officially carry weapons to defend themselves.
In what has become a national tragedy, the terrorists attacked a train on the Abuja-Kaduna route at about 7:43pm. The Nigerian Railway Corporation said 398 tickets were bought but only 362 passengers were validated.
Terrorists kill over 927 in Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger
Meanwhile, the most hit states in the killings were Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger where at least 927 innocent people were reported to have been killed by terrorists within the first quarter of the year.
The figure is based only on a compilation of media reports and data obtained from the National Security Tracker, an initiative of the Council of Foreign Relations, a United States think tank. The casualty figure may however be higher.
It was also learnt that apart from Kaduna State which presents a quarterly report on insecurity, other states do not provide data on the deaths and abductions.
The calculations by Saturday PUNCH showed that in Kaduna State, at least 223 people were killed while in Niger State, 397 lives were lost. In Zamfara State, where the Federal Government imposed a ‘no fly’ order, at least 307 people were killed by the criminals.
The three states also witnessed a combined abduction of at least 904 persons.
In Niger State, Governor Sani Bello said on January 17 that at least 220 people were killed by the terrorists within the first two weeks of 2022.
It was observed that Shiroro was the most affected local government area in the state, with 34 persons killed on January 12, another 18 persons killed on January 29 and 20 persons killed on February 3.
On February 5, no less than 44 persons were killed while 31 persons were abducted, and on February 21, about 14 persons were murdered by the criminals in Galape, a community in the local government.
In Kaduna State, where the terrorists bombed a passenger train around Rijana inwards Rigasa on Monday, the most affected local government areas are Igbabi, Zaria, Giwa, Chikun, Kajuru and Zangon Kataf.
The biggest carnage was in Dilalai community, Giwa Local Government Area where at least 50 people were killed on March 20.
In Zamfara State, no fewer than 200 people in Anka and Bukkyum communities were killed on January 5, the biggest single attack so far this year.
Despite the rising insecurity, however, security experts have warned against the declaration of state of emergency in the North-West.
Copyright: PUNCH
