Nigeria insurgents, bandits kill more in first half of 2025 than in all of last year

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo via Reuters

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA  -  More people were killed by bandits or insurgents in Nigeria in the first half of this year than in all of 2024, according to figures released on Tuesday by Nigeria's human rights agency.

According to the figures, at least 2,266 people were killed  in the first half of 2025, compared to 1,083 in the first half of 2024 and 2,194 for the full year last year.

Nigeria's military has been stretched thin, fighting a multi-front war against Boko Haram and other insurgencies in the northeast, banditry and kidnappings in the northwest, herder attacks in the central states and secessionists in the southeast.

The situation has worsened lately, with 606 people killed last month alone, including in attacks by gunmen on the Yelewata and Dauda communities in the central Benue state where around 200 people were killed.

Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission Tony Ojukwu, disclosing the figures during a presentation in the capital Abuja, called for urgent and decisive action from the government.

"These were not mere figures on a report; they were fathers, mothers, children, and breadwinners; families torn apart, livelihoods destroyed, and futures extinguished in moments of senseless brutality," Ojukwu said.

The agency reported 857 people abducted in the first half of 2025, though this was a decline from 1,461 in the same period last year.

The report also noted a trend of attacks against law enforcement and local security forces, with more than 17 soldiers killed in Kaduna and Niger States and over 40 members of the Civilian Joint Task Force killed in the northwestern Zamfara state.

 (Reporting by Camillus Eboh; writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo // REUTERS)