By Tersoo Chiahemen
Amnesty International has once again set off alarm bells with a sensationalist report claiming that over 10,000 people have been killed by bandits and armed groups in Northern Nigeria since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office two years ago.
With dramatic headlines like “Bandits Sacked 672 Villages and Killed Over 10,000 under Tinubu,” Amnesty has managed to attract widespread media attention but little scrutiny. And scrutiny is what this report sorely needs.
The report purports that 6,896 people were killed in Benue and 2,630 in Plateau, representing over 98% of the deaths it attributes to the entire country. This is not just improbable—it is inflammatory and potentially dangerous. By exaggerating fatalities in two ethnically and religiously sensitive states, the report risks exacerbating tensions and deepening divisions.
This kind of data distortion is not merely sloppy, it is reckless.
Contrary to Amnesty’s inflated and unverified claims, data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a globally respected and methodologically sound organization tells a starkly different story. ACLED, which uses daily, source-based data collection methods and maintains on ground presence, reports that total fatalities in Benue and
Plateau from 2023 to 2025 stand at 2,132:
– Benue: 497 (2023), 650 (2024), 155 (2025)
– Plateau: 401 (2023), 320 (2024), 109 (2025)
(Source: ACLED Data for Nigeria, 2023–2025)
These figures show a downward trend, not a bloodbath. One must ask: how did Amnesty arrive at numbers five times higher than those from ACLED? What sources did it use? Were those sources independently verified? Were the deaths categorized by cause criminality, conflict, accidents, or natural causes? The report answers none of these vital questions, revealing a glaring lack of transparency and rigour.
Also Read: Atiku, Amnesty back corps member, support youth activism
Amnesty International was once a beacon of rigorous research and moral clarity in the fight for global human rights. But if this report is any indication, the organization has traded professionalism for propaganda. In Nigeria, Amnesty now increasingly appears ill-equipped to grasp the complexity of local dynamics. Instead of nuanced analysis, it offers politically charged headlines, armchair activism, and shallow statistics.
To suggest that the Nigerian government is “doing little beyond media statements” is a baseless smear. The Tinubu administration has deployed strategic military operations, invested in community-led security architecture, and prioritized disarmament and peacebuilding in volatile regions.
Yes, challenges persist, especially in rural and border areas, but the blanket assertion of state inaction is both inaccurate and unfair.
The question must now be asked: Is Amnesty International still committed to truth and justice in Nigeria, or has it become a tool for sensationalism and soft-power coercion? Its latest report, bereft of methodological clarity, inflated in its numbers, and dangerously divisive in its conclusions demands a response not just from the Nigerian government but from the international community and Amnesty’s own leadership.
Amnesty should immediately subject this report to independent audit and officially release its sources and methodologies. It should engage with credible data institutions like ACLED and Nigerian civil society actors to support it in doing a proper and professionally grounded job. More importantly, it must ask itself whether it still has the moral and analytical capacity to do the work it claims to champion.
Until then, we are left with a troubling truth: Amnesty’s report is not a wake-up call—it is a work of fiction. And one that does more harm than good.
*Chiahemen writes in Gboko
