No fewer than 323 people have been killed in a wave of brutal attacks on rural communities across six northern states in the first 20 days of February, Amnesty International has revealed.
In a statement shared on its official X handle on Saturday, the global human rights body said the deadly assaults occurred in Benue, Katsina, Kwara, Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara states.
Amnesty International expressed deep concern over the escalating violence, declaring that the rising death toll reflects what it described as the Federal Governmentโs failure to end years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen who have continued to terrorise communities.
According to the organisation, the persistent killings and the inability of authorities to halt the attacks or bring perpetrators to justice pose a grave threat to the right to life in Nigeria.
โIncessant killings and the shocking failure of the authorities to end them and bring suspected perpetrators to justice have been and continues to be a threat to the right to life in Nigeria,โ the statement read.
The rights group noted that it has, since 2020, documented a disturbing pattern of coordinated attacks targeting rural communities.
It explained that gunmen often storm villages on motorcycles, heavily armed, opening fire on residents without warning. During the raids, attackers reportedly abduct women and girls, set homes ablaze, rustle livestock, destroy farm produce and kidnap villagers for ransom.
Amnesty further disclosed that some affected communities had received โwarning lettersโ from armed groups ahead of the invasions, heightening fears among residents.
In some cases, the assaults reportedly lasted for hours. The organisation cited a recent incident in Niger State where an attack allegedly began around 3:00 a.m. and continued until about 10:00 a.m., leaving devastation in its wake.
Many survivors told Amnesty International that they felt abandoned by the government and left to fend for themselves against heavily armed assailants.
Reiterating the governmentโs constitutional duty to safeguard lives and property, the organisation stressed that the growing wave of violence in northern Nigeria underscores what it called a serious failure of responsibility by the authorities.
โThe rising death toll in the north of Nigeria shows just how badly the authorities are failing in this responsibility,โ Amnesty International stated.
