Last week, insecurity in Nigeria persisted, with the number of people killed by armed groups rising from the previous week.
The other week, armed groups killed a number of 47 Nigerians in various attacks across the country (October 17 to 23). PREMIUM TIMES compiled the number of deaths from media reports. As a result, cases that were not reported were excluded.
Two traditional rulers and a soldier are among the victims. The remaining were civilians.
When compared to the previous week, 31 people were killed, including 10 soldiers, the number of people killed has increased by about 50%.
While the number of people killed increased, the number of incidents decreased. In the week under review, there were only four incidents.
Bandits were responsible for over 90% of the reported killings in the northwest zone, with others occurring in other parts of the country.
The following are the cases compiled from last week’s media reports.
Sokoto recorded 43 people
Gunmen attacked Goronyo market in Sokoto State, north-west Nigeria, on Sunday, killing at least 43 people.
Around 5 p.m., the terrorists stormed the market, shooting indiscriminately at traders and buyers.
According to reports, the bandits operated for nearly two hours without encountering any resistance from security forces, who were unaware of the attack due to the area’s telecommunications outage. While officials stated that 43 people were killed, a report stated that at least 62 people were killed.
Many Nigerians condemned the attack, with President Muhammadu Buhari threatening the perpetrators and other armed groups in the region with “ultimate destruction.”
Imo has two traditional rulers
Gunmen opened fire on traditional rulers during a meeting in Imo State on Tuesday evening, killing two of them.
When the hoodlums struck, the traditional rulers were holding a stakeholder meeting in Nnenasa, the headquarters of the Njaba Local Government Area.
Many other traditional rulers who attended the meeting were badly hurt.
Attacks by suspected members of the ESN, the armed wing of the outlawed separatist group IPOB, have wreaked havoc in Imo.
According to the Nigerian government, at least 175 security personnel have been killed by suspected IPOB members in Imo and other states in Nigeria’s southeast and south-south regions.
However, IPOB has denied responsibility for the majority of the attacks.
One in Kwara
The Kwara State Police Command confirmed the killing of an Ilorin-based estate agent identified as Sina Babarinde.
The spokesperson of the command, Okasanmi Ajayi, who confirmed the incident on Monday, said that the deceased was reportedly shot dead by gunmen during a church service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Living Word Parish, Basin Road, Ilorin.
According to him, the incident happened during the 7:00 a.m. church service of the RCCG.
One soldier in Imo
There was tension in Etekuru, in the Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State on Wednesday when soldiers and youth in the community clashed.
The report said that a soldier had earlier been ambushed and killed, while his rifle was stolen.
In a reprisal, soldiers invaded the community and burnt houses which led to the clash between the two groups.
Expert in security response
According to Davidson Akhimen, a security expert, the mass killings in Sokoto by bandits were motivated by frustration.
He claimed the killings were carried out to exact revenge on the government because the bandits’ operations had been hampered by the telecommunications outage.
“I believe the government is already moving in the right direction, particularly by cutting off the digital connection that allows bandits and kidnappers to communicate with their victims’ relatives.”
“So it puts them in disarray and they will not be able to communicate between themselves and coordinate their activities, I think that is a very big step that the government has taken and as a result, they have been recording successes.
“The killings you are seeing now is as a result of fury on the part of the bandits, seeing that the government has already gotten an upper hand on the matter. So annoyance, fury is what are leading them to kill their victims. But this is going to be short-lived as government forces are pressing harder towards achieving total victory,” Mr. Akhimen said.
Recall how, following a security crackdown on their former bases in Zamfara, some banditry kingpins relocated to Sokoto?
A few months after a notorious bandit, Bello Turji, relocated his headquarters from Zamfara State to Tozai in Sokoto, another outlaw, Halilu Sububu, did the same.
Other North-west and North-central states affected by banditry include Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger, in addition to Zamfara and Sokoto.
Ada Peter
