About 214 people were killed in attacks carried out by bandits, communal clashes and reprisals across Kaduna state from January to March 2023.
The state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan disclosed this in the first quarter 2023 security report he presented to the state Security Council.
196 males, 14 females and four minors were killed, while 746 citizens were kidnapped during the period under review. Aruwan also revealed that Kaduna Central Senatorial District remains top on the list with 115 deaths.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai who received the report, appealed to the Federal Government to escalate security operations across the seven frontline states of the North-West and Niger State within the coming weeks, adding that the state governments alone were unable to handle the problem.
He said the operation would prevent the creation of a dangerous lull for criminal outlaws to exploit, especially during the period of transition from one administration to another.
El-Rufai said;
“We appeal for an escalation of security operations over the next 39 days remaining to the end of the tenure of this administration and beyond so that the change of baton at the federal level does not result in a dangerous law that criminal outlaws can exploit.
“There is every reason to intensify and sustain simultaneous ground and air kinetic actions across the seven frontline states of the North-West region and Niger states.”