Bandits, Terrorists, Others, Killed 216 Persons and Abducted Over 214 in October - Nigeria Insecurity Profile

A total of 216 persons were killed by bandits, gunmen, terrorists and other actors in October 2023. The same actors also abducted over 214 persons within the same period. The incidents which were documented by the African Centre for Media, Governance and Peacebuilding (ACMGP) monitoring and research unit, occurred through 78 attacks in twenty-six states spread almost evenly across all six regions of the country.

The Northeast recorded the most spread by geographical locations where the incidents took place. All six states in the region were impacted. The region is closely followed by the North-Central and North-West with five states respectively. The states exempted from the two regions are Kogi and Kano. In the South-South the impacted states include: Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers States. In the South-West, apart from Ekiti and Oyo, all four states are impacted. The only two impacted states in the South-East include Abia and Anambra States.

The region with the most fatality figure was the North East with 60 deaths. This was followed by North-Central and North-West with 54 and 49 deaths respectively.? South-South recorded 42 deaths while the South-West had 15 fatalities. The South-East recorded the lowest fatality with only 2 deaths.

States with the highest fatality figure include Yobe with 41 deaths, Benue – 37, Cross River – with 26, Kaduna 23 and Zamfara -16 deaths. In Yobe 40 farmers were slaughtered by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in Gurokayeya village in Gaidam Local Government Area, on October 30 – 31, 2023. The farmers were reportedly killed due to their failure to pay a statutory tax imposed on them by the terrorists.

However, in Cross River state the fatalities occurred during a communal clash between indigenes of Yache-ijiegu community in Yala LGA of Cross River state and their Tiv settlers. Local sources said the raging conflict has so far claimed over 50 lives. Benue State also witnessed the resurgent of bandits and killer herdsmen who operate largely in remote communities.

The fatality rate represents a 71.3% increase from September 2023.

The period however recorded the highest number of abductions in North-Western Zamfara State with the kidnap of over 50 villagers most of whom were women and children in Bagega, a mining village in Anka Local Government Area. In another incident, bandits also kidnapped an additional 11 persons within the period in the state. Other major incidents of abduction also occurred in Niger State with the abduction of 31 persons. Also in Kaduna 30, people were abducted by bandits within the period, while major abductions also took place in Gombe and Ondo states; recording 27 and 25 incidents of abductions respectively.

The incidents occurred through banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and killer-herder attacks. The deaths and abductions which are disaggregated according to the weeks of occurrence were documented by the ACMGP’s monitoring and research unit. Data used for the reported incidents were sourced through verifiable and distinct secondary and primary sources.

According to our incident priority matrix, the highest number of deaths in the month under review occurred in the fourth week, with 49 fatalities. The first week however recorded 48 deaths while week five recorded 44 deaths. The second and third week recorded 38 and 37 fatalities respectively. The overall death rate within the period recorded a 71.3% increase in fatalities when compared to the total reported fatalities in the month of September which recorded 154 deaths.

The first week of October also recorded the incidents of abductions numbering about 103 documented cases. This was closely followed by the third week which recorded 71 cases. Week 5, 4, and 2, recorded 25, 11 and 4 incidences of abductions respectively.

Most of the deaths and abductions, especially those which occurred in the northern region, are attributed to bandits and terrorists. Bandits kidnap school girls and farmers to raise funds through ransom payments for the purchase of weapons and other logistics needs.