By Kingsley Omonobi
Investigations and research by a civil society group, Nigeria Mourns shows that at least 1,165 people were killed in violent attacks in the North-Western region of Nigeria between January and August 2020, according to its report.
About 113 people were also kidnapped in the region in the last eight months, the report by a non-governmental organisation, Nigeria Mourns, reports.
According to the report, the group which tracks incidents of violent killings across the nation said the cases in the North West were recorded in seven states.
Investigations show that the group uses newspaper reports, police and family sources to gather its findings.
The latest report shows that Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states recorded the highest numbers of killings in six months.
According to its findings, Nigeria Mourns listed the casualty figure for each of the seven states as follows: Kaduna – 468, Katsina – 376, Zamfara – 204, Sokoto – 96, Kano – 10, Jigawa – 10 and Kebbi – 1.
The report states that 1,068 persons were killed by suspected armed bandits, five by Boko Haram/ISWAP, 73 by armed herdsmen, six died in isolated attacks and 13 from extrajudicial killings.
The report also listed the monthly abductions in the region as follows: January – 11, February – 21, March 18, April – 8, May – 7, June – 14, July – 14 and August – 10.
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Earlier the organisation’s reports showed that 415 people were killed in July in violent crimes across Nigeria, 731 in June and 356 in May.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari in his address at the week’s retreat held for cabinet members this week admitted that his government needed to do more to address security challenges across the country.
The president listed northwestern states as part of the places where the government’s fight against insecurity is yielding the “desired” results.
“Our security operations in the Niger Delta, North Central and North Western States are yielding desired results. We hope to get rid of bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements in these regions”, he said.
