A report from the International Foundation for Peace Building and Social Justice has said 3,186 Nigerians were killed between January and June 2021 by insurgents and bandits.
According to the report, 2,963 persons were abducted while 161 were injured during various violent attacks across the country within the period.
The report said, “In the past six months, data reports by PSJ Data Team revealed at least 3,186 persons have been killed, 2,963 abducted and 161 injured across Nigeria.
“Over the last five years, there has been a concentration of atrocities in the northern part of the country and though, it still remains the epicentre, the violence has found its way into the southern parts of the country.”
Further details of the report showed that the North-West region of Nigeria accounted for most of the incidents, with Zamfara and Kaduna States recording more deaths in the region.
Borno state in North-East came second while North-Central States of Benue, Niger and Plateau came third on the report. The reason for these deaths is attributed to armed attacks and other violent crimes carried out on mostly agrarian communities.
The report blamed Boko Haram Fulani militias as being responsible for most of the killings in the period under review.
“Tremendous efforts have been geared towards identifying the perpetrators of these wicked acts”, it said.
“The most popular nomenclature in the media for perpetrators include words such as bandits, gunmen and have been found to mask the real perpetrators which include the Fulani militia and Boko Haram as the main actors of these crimes.
The attacks have mostly been on Christian villages where farms, crops and food storage were deliberately destroyed”.
