No fewer than 545 people were killed, while over 269 people were abducted in 104 communities across the country in April, a new report by Global Rights has revealed.
The advocacy group in the report released Friday said this was the second-highest number of deaths recorded since the start of the year after March.
It stressed that this indicated a minor decrease in violent killings compared to what was recorded in March, adding that abductions have gone up minimally when compared to the previous month.
It said: “For the month of April 2023, our data tracking showed at least 545 people were killed with over 269 abductions in 104 communities across the country.
“Banditry which was previously recorded in the past years as the largest cause of violent deaths across the country contributed to the highest death toll again in April with 244 deaths while Herdsmen related activities mostly in the North Central part of the country recorded 209 casualties, followed by Communal Clashes that constitute of about 24 deaths.”
The report noted that political-related killings claimed 17 casualties, while Boko Haram/ISWAP accounted for 14 deaths.
Similarly, cult clashes and isolated attacks claimed 12 lives each while Secessionist activities in the South-eastern part of the country claimed at least 8 lives.
The report further revealed that extra-judicial killings mostly perpetrated by security personnel caused about three deaths, the lowest recorded since the start of the year, while mob Attacks claimed resulted in two casualties.
The report added that out of a total of at least 545 people killed, 3.85% of them were security personnel amounting to 21 deaths, which constituted 13 Police officers, four military personnel and four Immigration personnel across the country in April, while the remaining 96.15% of the lives lost were civilians.
The report noted that the data on killings of security operatives shows a significant decrease from what was previously recorded in other months. Additionally, the continued loss of security personnel constitutes a consistent threat to the general security of Nigerians. Security personnel in Nigeria have faced significant challenges and dangers in recent years, with reports of attacks by armed groups and criminal organizations