The Interview Editors
Bandits have replaced Boko Haram as the biggest single source of mass atrocities, especially killings in Nigeria.
Global Rights in a report released on Monday has highlighted various atrocities committed by criminals and security agents alike.
The international human rights organisation said it had recorded a total of 4,556 killings with 3,858 of them civilians while 698 of them were security officers in 2020.
It stated that banditry attacks accounted for 1,982 killings to topple Boko Haram’s 1,173 as the deadliest mass atrocities source in Nigeria. A total of 2,002 people were abducted across the country.
Borno, Kaduna and Katsina were ranked the top three most fragile and worst states to live in Nigeria while Gombe ranked lowest.
The North West overtook the North East with the most mass atrocities while the South East recorded the lowest in the country.
The reported disclosed that the EndSARS protests of October 2020 topped the rankings of extra judcial killings in 2020 with 126 people killed.
It also noted that Lagos State had recorded the most with 60 people killed during the EndSARS protest.
No fewer than 33 persons were also killed during the COVID-19 lockdown with Kaduna State recording the highest number with 12. Security operatives who perpetrated these killings were listed as Army officers, Police officers, NSCDC officers and Correctional Service officers, the reported added.
Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, the Chair of Global Rights said, “There’s no end to the number of ways to get killed in #Nigeria. #BokoHaram is no longer the biggest single source of terror or #MassAtrocities in the country. The escalation in atrocity typologies is geometric.
“Security agencies in #Nigeria killed at least 33 people while claiming to enforce #COVID19Lockdowns in 2020.”
Global Rights, an international human rights and governance capacity-building non-governmental organization, was founded in 1978.
