No fewer than 323 security officers were killed by non-state actors across the country between January 1 and May 15, 2022.
The figure is based on a compilation of data obtained from the National Security Tracker, an initiative of the Council of Foreign Relations, a United States think tank.
The security operatives affected included those from the military, police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Correctional Service, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Nigeria Drug and Law Enforcement Agency, and Ebubeagu security outfit.
A breakdown of the figure indicated that a total of 78 security operatives were killed in the first month of the year, while 33 died in February, 154 in March, 45 in April and 13 have so far been killed in the May.
Out of the 78 security operatives killed in January, 20 were soldiers, 11 policemen, 46 vigilantes, and one NSCDC personnel.
In February, out of the 33 that were killed, four were soldiers, 26 were policemen, one NDLEA operative, one vigilance group members and one Joint Task Force member.
In March, out of the 154 killed, 42 were soldiers, 17 policemen, one NDLEA operative, 70 vigilantes, one NSCDC official and 19 others, two prison officers and two Ebubeagu personnel.
In April, out of the 45 security operatives killed, 30 were soldiers, 10 policemen, one vigilante, two NSCDC officials and two others.
Between May 1 and 15, a total of 13 security operatives have so far been killed, six of them were soldiers and seven policemen.
From January 1 to May 15, a total of 103 soldiers, 71 police officers, 117 vigilantes, three NSCDC personnel, two prison officers, two NDLEA operatives, two Ebubeagu personnel and 22 others were killed.
“Others” were used to categorise instances where the affected security operatives were not stated.
An example was on March 8 when Kebbi State Deputy Governor escaped death. The bandits were reported to have killed 19 security agents.
A further breakdown by geo-political zones shows that 122 of the killings happened in the North-West, 73 in North-Central, 65 in the North East, 44 in the South-East, nine in the South-South, and five in the South-West.
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