Peter Obi raises alarm over escalating killings and abductions in Benue, Plateau, and Niger states, calling for urgent government action to prevent attacks before they happen rather than counting bodies after.
Abuja — August 24, 2026
Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi has raised alarm over the worsening wave of violence in Benue, Plateau, and Niger states, describing the situation as a national security emergency that demands urgent, coordinated action from all levels of government.
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, Obi cited the recent attack on Jwak Maitumbi community in Mangu LGA, Plateau State, where he said at least 23 people were officially reported killed, though residents put the toll above 30, with more than 45 houses reportedly destroyed.
Obi also pointed to recent attacks in Borgu LGA, Niger State, where he said more than 40 people were reportedly killed and over 100 abducted, while acknowledging that these figures remain contested and unconfirmed.
He described the situation in Benue as similarly troubling, citing repeated attacks, killings, abductions, and destruction of homes and livelihoods across the state.
"Citizens are being attacked in their villages, abducted after prayers, driven from their homes and stripped of their farms," Obi said, despite Nigeria not being officially at war.
Obi urged governments at every level to improve intelligence gathering and rapid-response capacity, rescue abducted citizens, and apprehend those responsible for the violence.
He argued that the country's approach must shift from reacting to attacks after they occur to actively preventing them, framing the protection of lives and property as government's most basic obligation to citizens.
The statement adds Obi's voice to a growing list of political and civil society figures, including the Northern Senators Forum and the Arewa Consultative Forum, publicly pressing for a fundamentally different security response across Nigeria's North Central states, following a month marked by mass-casualty attacks in Mangu LGA and a string of mosque abductions in Niger State's Borgu LGA.
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