…Says 10,000 deaths in two years worrisome
By Our Reporter
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, has raised alarm over what he described as the “senseless killing spree” by non-state actors across Nigeria.
Citing a recent report by Amnesty International, Obi said no fewer than 10,000 Nigerians have lost their lives to terrorists, bandits, and other armed groups in just two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a post on his official X handle, the former Anambra governor lamented that despite Nigeria not being officially at war like Ukraine, killings, abductions and banditry continue daily and at what he called “a worrisome rate.”
He wrote: “Nigeria, which is not even officially at war, has recorded over 10,000 civilian deaths in just two years, a number similar to civilian deaths in Ukraine, which is officially at war.
“This means that, in just two years, Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has taken almost as many civilian lives as a country under open warfare.
“We must now wake up as a nation. The first duty of any government is to secure the lives and property of its people.”
He pointed to the recent attack in Okigwe, Imo State, which claimed many lives and left others missing, as evidence of the deepening insecurity. Over the same weekend, he noted, Amnesty International had warned that government’s “stunning failure” to protect citizens was emboldening bandits.
According to him, “they described the week as a bloody one, recording several deaths across various parts of the country, including the massacre of over 50 worshippers in a mosque in Katsina, the abduction of over 60 people in the same Katsina State, and the killing of over 15 farmers in Mangu, Plateau State, which displaced more than 200 families in just days.”
“This means that, in just two years, Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has taken almost as many civilian lives as a country under open warfare,” he stressed, adding that the first duty of any government must be to secure the lives and property of its people.
