Nigeria: Nigeria Not Officially At War Yet We Keep Counting Dead Bodies

What the report says

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has urged federal, state and local authorities to respond more decisively to rising insecurity across Nigeria. In a statement posted on his X account and reported by Daily Trust, Obi said renewed attacks in several communities showed the need for urgent, coordinated action rather than treating the violence as separate incidents.

The report said he pointed to recent killings and abductions in parts of Benue, Plateau and Niger states, areas in Nigeria’s North-Central region that have seen repeated unrest. Daily Trust cited attacks in Mangu, Plateau State, where residents and officials gave different casualty figures, and in Borgu, Niger State, where the toll and number of abducted people were still being contested. Obi also referred more broadly to continuing violence in Benue, including attacks on villages, farms and worship centres.

According to the article, Obi warned that the pattern of raids, kidnappings and displacement amounts to a national security emergency. He called on governments to strengthen intelligence gathering, speed up response operations, rescue abducted people and prosecute those responsible. His comments add to wider concerns in Nigeria about persistent violence in rural communities, especially in the country’s central belt, though the Daily Trust report focused on his statement rather than on a government response.