June 22,2022

No fewer than 68 mass killings were recorded in the country between January 1, 2020 and June 9, 2022, a report by SBM Intelligence has revealed.

According to the report, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, at least 2,079 persons were killed in the 68 cases.

The report added that the insurgency-ravaged North-East geopolitical zone was excluded from the data captured.

It stated that three of the incidents were carried out by state actors while 50 of the incidents were done by bandits among others.  The report read, “Data does not include the North-East geopolitical zone, and is from January 1, 2020 to June 9, 2022.

“The massacre at St. Francis Xavier church in Owo, Ondo State on Sunday, June 5, 2022 dispels the government’s claim that Nigeria is more secure than ever.

“Since the start of 2020, there have been at least 68 recorded massacres against unarmed civilians who could not respond in parts of Nigeria outside the North-East.

“Three of these massacres were carried out by state actors, but the majority, 50 of these, were carried out by terrorists who are often called ‘bandits,’ all but four of these bandit attacks occurred in the North- West. In total, at least 2,079 persons have been killed.”

Commenting on the report, a security expert, Jackson Ojo, said the mass killings showed that the country was no longer safe.

Ojo said, “As it stands today, Nigeria is an unsafe territory, and that is adversely affecting us on all fronts. We can’t predict what will happen in the next moment in the country. We have never had insecurity this bad in the country. Even during the civil war, it was not as bad as this.

“People are dying in their numbers and the nation will move on as if nothing happened the following day. Human lives have become valueless and abnormality is becoming a norm under this regime. “Criminals are now bold not only to carry out attacks, but make certain demands from the government. We are in a state of lawlessness.”

Also, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Afam Osigwe, said the government has failed in its duty to protect lives and property.  He said, “People are being kidnapped and the abductors demand ransom from the relatives of the kidnapped, using mobile telephone lines which are supposed to be registered with the bio-metrics of the owner without being tracked.

“In Nigeria today, the security agencies, to my knowledge, can track the people making phone calls but have yet to track criminals using the lines to demand ransom

“If by law, they cannot carry arms, it is the duty of the government to protect and defend them.

“We are policing the same old ways we have been doing which has not achieved anything for us. The government has a lot to do Punch