A total of 913 killed, 265 abducted in May under Buhari’s watch– Report

A report by an indigenous intelligence outfit, Beacon Consulting, has revealed that non-state actors carried out no fewer than 421 attacks across the country in May 2022.

The attacks were said to have happened in 201 local government areas in 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the report, released on Sunday, over 265 Nigerians were abducted while 913 were killed during the attacks recorded between May 1 and May 30, 2022.

The report added that there was a decrease of 58.1 per cent in abductions and 36.3 per cent in fatalities compared to what was recorded in April.

A breakdown by geopolitical zones revealed that 109 fatalities, representing 11.9 per cent of the death for the month of May occurred in the North Central; 196 deaths, representing 21.5 per cent occurred in the North-West, South-South – 67 (7.3 per cent,), South-East -79 (8.7 per cent) and South-West -34 (3.7 per cent).

A further analysis by the report indicated that non-state actors carried out raids with 395 cases targeted at rural communities, 260 cases of combat/crossfire and 98 cases of ambush.

Commenting on the report, a security expert, Oladele Fajana, advised security agencies to gear up as the nation prepares for the 2023 general elections.

He also called for massive deployment of technology at this period to track down criminals.

Fajana said, “It is sad that we keep recording this high figure of death and abductions in Nigeria.

“As we are heading for election; we need all hands on the deck to ensure our country is secured.

“Security agencies must look beyond our analogue ways of securing the nation. We need massive deployment of technology. Our inability to track these criminals down is the major reason there is a rise in criminal activities in the country.”

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Adegoke Rasheed, told The PUNCH that  state governors should do all they can to secure their states.

He said, “Insecurity is becoming a permanent phenomenon. State governments must put in place structures to secure territory and  forget whether the constitution gives them the power to do so or not, otherwise, we will all be consumed  and the constitution will be of no use when they overrun us.

“There must be massive recruitment into Amotekun and there must be mass orientation for the people, they should speak up when they see strange movements and faces.”

Efforts to get the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, were not successful.

He did not take calls to his line and was yet to respond to a message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.