Bloody January: Nigerians Loses 508 People In 19 Days Due To Violence, Accidents, And Other Causes
Most people who passed over to January 2023 have moved on from the insecurity and other socioeconomic difficulties of 2022, so death is likely the last thing on their minds.
However, the Nigerian polity is strewn with premature and abandoned hopes less than 20 days into 2023. According to Saturday Vanguard checks, no fewer than 508 persons across the nation had their lives violently ended in their prime.
In the past 19 days, a lethal confluence of acts of violence, mishaps, cult disputes, Boko Haram insurgency activity, unidentified gunmen and separatists, kidnappers, and robbers have essentially turned several Nigerian cities into killing fields.
Every year on December 31, a large crowd gathers in churches and other places of worship to give thanks to God for the past year and to ask for better tidings—good health, long life, prosperity, and other favors—in the next year.
It’s common for people to list a long list of ambitious objectives for the upcoming year.
They top it off by sending greetings and notes to friends and family. No of your age, instant death is typically unthinkable. Even people who are ill anticipate feeling better in the coming year.
According to Saturday Vanguard’s research, there were 508 fatalities, including 25 Nigerians who were taken by the Diphtheria outbreak in Kano. In Lagos, two people perished from diphtheria. They also consist of those of a couple who were burned alive by alleged arsonists on January 1 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, just after they arrived from a cross-over church service.
Due to the fact that it is based on documented cases, the death toll is not all-inclusive.
How 508 lives were wasted in January 2023
On January 1:
* An accident on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway resulted in the confirmed deaths of seven people and the injuries of sixteen more.
*A driver struck a group of friends in Akinmorin, close to Oyo town, causing five fatalities and four injuries.
*Gunmen murdered Mrs. Urenma Chima, the wife of the Ebubeagu commander, in Ebonyi State. She was seven months pregnant.
*Gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint along Ubomiri/Nwaorie Ubi Road in Imo State’s Mbaitoli Local Government Area, killing two people.
Dr. Uyi Iluobe, a doctor, was fatally shot at the Olive Clinic in Oghareki, Ethiopia West Council.
*A couple was set on fire shortly after they arrived home after a cross-over church service in Abeokuta, Ogun State, by suspected arsonists.
*Two separate accidents in Ogun State resulted in the deaths of eight people and the injury of another 22.
* In Bama, Borno, airstrikes killed 33 Boko Haram fighters.
* Three people were killed by bandits in Abeokuta, Ogun, and one was kidnapped.
* In Afijio, Oyo, someone purposefully drove into a celebration, killing five people.
* In Gusau, Zamfara, police killed one bandit.
* In Awka South, Anambra, gunmen killed five people.
2 January
* In Ehime-Mbano, Imo, gunmen attacked Ohakim’s convoy and killed four police officers.
* A bandit was shot and killed by police in Jibia, Katsina.
* In Toto, Nassarawa, gunmen kidnapped six people and killed one.
In Giwa, Kaduna, troops killed four bandits.
* While a bomb attempt on his convoy resulted in the deaths of four of his police orderlies, Ohakim managed to avoid harm.
In Nodu Okpuno, Akwa North Local Government Area, Anambra State, four people were shot and killed by alleged hoodlums.
