No fewer than 214 persons were reportedly killed in different attacks by bandits in Kaduna state between January and March 2023.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the state government revealed that casualties were also recorded from different communal clashes and reprisals across the state within the period under review.
Giving a first quarter 2023 security report to the State Security Council, the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said 196 males, 14 females and four minors were killed, while 746 citizens were kidnapped during the period under review.
He also said that Kaduna Central Senatorial District remains top on the list with 115 deaths.
Receiving the report, Governor Nasir El-Rufai 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 could not handle the problem.
The operation, the governor noted, would prevent the creation of a dangerous lull for criminal outlaws to exploit, especially during the period of transition from one administration to another.
“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,” the Governor said.
He admitted that 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.
El-Rufai also reiterated the commitment of the Kaduna State Government to improving security as well as securing the lives and properties of residents of the state.
