Report: Over 590 Nigerians killed in violent attacks in April

Hundreds of Nigerians were killed in a series of violent attacks that occurred in different parts of the country in April, according to a report by SB Morgan (SBM) Intelligence.

The report recorded killings in 31 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), and cited 160 instances of violent attacks from April 1 to 27.

According to the report, Kogi, Jigawa, Kwara, Bauchi, and Kano did not report incidents of violence which were captured in media reports.

In April, the country’s rising insecurity took another dimension as incidents of killings, kidnapping, and arson were recorded on an almost daily basis in different parts of the country.

The latest figure for the number of deaths in April is more than double the count recorded in April 2020.

TheCable, in a report that analysed the number of deaths reported in the media in 2020, observed that 256 people were killed in different parts of the country in 67 instances of violent attacks in April last year.

BENUE: ‘HOTBED OF KILLINGS’

In the report, Benue state has the highest number of deaths with 127 people killed in 11 attacks. This was closely followed by Zamfara with 86 deaths in six attacks, while Borno comes next with 85 deaths in nine incidents.

The number of deaths in other states include: Kaduna (32), Katsina (31), Anambra (29), Imo (25), Rivers (24), Yobe (21), Gombe (18), Niger (12), Kebbi (11), Akwa Ibom (10), Taraba (10), Lagos (9), Adamawa (6), Delta (6), Ebonyi (6), and Plateau (6).

While Bayelsa and Ekiti recorded five deaths each, Cross River, Edo, and Osun have four deaths each; Ondo recorded three deaths; Abuja, Abia, Enugu, Nasarawa, and Ogun recorded two fatalities, and Oyo and Sokoto recorded one death each.

NORTH-WEST: ‘THE REGION WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF DEATHS’

The north-west region of the country recorded the highest number of deaths with about 161 people killed in the period under review.

The region was closely followed by the north-central with 149 deaths, while the north-east, which is the hotbed of insurgency in the country, recorded 140 deaths.

The report also showed that the northern part of the country accounted for 76 percent of the deaths recorded in the country for the period under review.

Meanwhile, for the south-east, there were 64 deaths; south-south recorded 53 killings, and south-west has 33 fatalities.