Sad Week Of Blood In Nigeria: Over 239 killed, 44 kidnapped in separate incidents

In his Saturday article titled, ‘The Endless Martyrdom of Youth’, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said Nigeria is at war but her leaders are pretending.

Indeed, that is the perfect description of the current situation of Africa’s most populous nation where kidnappings and killings have become the order of the day.

In the past week, at least 239 people were killed and 44 others kidnapped in separate violent incidents across the country, mostly by armed non-state actors.

The violence is not limited to any state, ethnic group or religion. It is a general problem that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is finding difficult to curb.

For several years, citizens agitated for the removal of security chiefs as their tenures had lapsed and the security situation was getting worse. Even though Mr Buhari did not agree with the views of Nigerians and indeed lawmakers, he reluctantly listened to the public outcry this year. He changed the nation’s security heads but killings and kidnappings have not reduced.

On Tuesday, the United States government issued a travel advisory, warning its citizens against travelling to Nigeria over the worsening security situation in the country.

The advisory also identified some high-risk zones in the country, where kidnapping for ransom, terrorism and other security threats are common.

This security situation, arguably, worsened last week with at least 239 people killed and 44 others kidnapped in violent attacks.

These figures were compiled using a review of newspaper reports, interviews with victims’ families and in some cases, confirmation by public and security officials.

-Premium Times