Nigeria Mourns And Cries For Peace, Justice & Security
“ … the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government …” – 1999 Nigerian Constitution
According to Amnesty International, 1,813 Nigerians have died from Jan 1 – June 27, 2018 to Boko Haram, herdsmen-farmer, communal & banditry killings. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Nigeria became the 2nd most violent state in Africa in 2017. According to the Nigeria Security Tracker managed by the Council on Foreign Relations in the US, 7,335 Nigerians have died due to violent conflict between May 2015 and June 2018.
The lack of data from the Federal Government, which is responsible for the security and welfare of Nigerians has resulted in various organisations providing different data about the fatalities across Nigeria.
The spate of killings across the country has taken on a scary dimension in the last few months and citizens have been disappointed in government’s seeming lack of capacity to keep Nigerians safe. Citizens in Adamawa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba & Zamfara have have been killed for various reasons – economic, culture clashes, banditry & opportunism to name a few in the first 6 months of this year. Layered on this is the politics of election season and the fact that Nigeria has the largest number of small arms in the sub-region.
It is time for all Nigerians who desire peace and who love this country to unite and speak with one voice and urge the government to take greater action to stop these killings.
Civil society organisations are planning a range of sustained activities to raise awareness; challenge government to do more to protect the lives of citizens; give people from the affected communities an opportunity to share their stories and promote peaceful coexistence.
On Wednesday July 4th (today) & Wednesday July 11th, citizens will walk from Unity Fountain to Aso Rock to demand that the Federal Government do more to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians. The Federal Executive Council meets on Wednesdays and a loud message will be sent to Mr President, Mr Vice President, the 36 Governors, all Ministers and the Security Chiefs.
Nigerians across the country have been killed irrespective of religion, ethnicity or socio-economic class. Citizens are coming together to say enough because we cannot afford the bloodshed to continue – one more death is one death too many!
9am
Unity Fountain, Abuja
Wednesday, July 4 AND 11, 2018
#NigerianLivesMatter
#NigeriaMourns
#StopTheKillings
#OneDeathTooMany
#EnoughIsEnough
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
EiE Nigeria, Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Global Rights, Our Mumu Don Do, CODE, Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD), Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM), Concerned Nigerians, Reclaim Naija (CLP), BudgIT, Emerging Political Leaders Summit
