Follow Us on Google
…Say 2,423 people killed in 8 months
By Chukwuma Umeorah
Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria have urged President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on insecurity and prosecute sponsors and beneficiaries of terrorism.
The coalition under the banners of the Civil Society Joint Action Group, Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities, and Nigeria Mourns, expressed deep concern over the escalating insecurity across Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, calling for urgent and decisive measures to end the endemic violence, mitigate further attacks by kidnap syndicates and terrorist groups, and, account for persons missing in these attacks.
They stressed that the government has continued to fail in its primary duty of ensuring the security and welfare of all citizens as mandated in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution, and in its obligation to enforce and fulfill its citizens’ right to life, according to Section 33 of the Constitution.
“We call upon President Tinubu as the lead agent of government to urgently fulfill its constitutional imperative of safeguarding the lives of all citizens and declare a state of emergency on kidnapping and other forms of terrorism,” noting that the high level of insecurity was negatively impacting on the economy as foreign investors have been deterred while local investors have expunged far too many resources that could have been invested in businesses into paying ransoms and fortifying private security.
They lamented that education, agriculture, tourism and other aspects have not been spared.
The CSOs’ noted that over the past decade and a half, insecurity in Nigeria has spiraled and by implication, the entire nation was slowly grinding to a halt.
According to them, mass atrocities fatality tracking across the country by Nigeria Mourns reveals that in President Buhari’s second term alone (2019 to 2023), at least 24,816 Nigerians lost their lives, and over 15,597 persons were abducted.
“This alarming trend has continued in spite of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assurance at the beginning of his presidency in May 2023 to tackle insecurity. It has now been 8 months since President Tinubu took his oath of office and yet, things have failed to improve.
“Our tracking shows at least 2,423 people have been killed in mass atrocities-related incidents and at least 1,872 persons were abducted since the beginning of President Tinubu’s administration till January 26, 2024.
We are particularly concerned about the upsurge in abductions as at least 230 incidents, in most of which multiple victims were involved, occurred within the first 2 weeks of January 2024 alone.”
They further expressed concern over the lackadaisical approach the Tinubu administration deploys in handling the crisis and to deal with the atrocious onslaughts against citizens within the nation’s borders, and that Nigerians who are being further impoverished by the escalating insecurity, now perpetually live in fear of being attacked, abducted or killed.
Among other demands made by the civil societies to curb the rising spate of insecurity were, the need for government to enhance the country’s security infrastructure by conducting an audit of the responsibility matrix within security agencies and departments of government, bolster their capabilities and deployment of technology to effectively address the evolving challenges of insecurity.
It also called for the prompt prosecution of the 400 sponsors of terrorism arrested under the Buhari regime, create a register of victims of abductions and other forms of mass atrocities, recognize and address the floundering economy, corruption and human rights violations as exacerbating factors of Nigeria’s insecurity.
They added the need to, “Engage citizens on best practices for ending insecurity, including disincentivizing the payment of ransoms and provide holistic psychosocial support for abduction survivors and their families.”
