NHRC laments over 382 murder, 230 kidnap victims in July

By Jude Opara

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday expressed disgust over the reported killing of no fewer than 382 Nigerians, with another 230 people kidnapped in July.

Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu while declaring open the monthly Human Rights Situation Dashboard for the month of July said the upsurge in the killings, kidnapping, child abuse, domestic violence and other such activities is not acceptable.

Ojukwu also stated that in July 2026 alone, the Commission recorded a total of 354,997 complaints across the country, a figure he said paints a sobering picture of the scale of  human rights concerns Nigerians continue to face.

According to him: “The dashboard offers not just numbers, but a graphical snapshot of where these violations are concentrated, the trends driving them, and the areas demanding urgent attention.

“In the month of July, we continue to witness persistent patterns of  human rights violations especially affecting women and children.

“We must call for attention on sexual violence on children across the country, which has come to a defining head in this past month with a record 25 sexual violence cases on children and minors from our human rights  observatory.

“These are not just human rights violations but if not managed could have lasting impact on the health and mental well-being of the survivors.”

Giving a breakdown of the incidents, Senior Human Rights Adviser to the Executive Secretary, Dr. Hilary Ogbonna said apart from the 382 and 230 killed and kidnapped respectively, there were several other alarming human rights abuses that should not be accepted in the country.

Ogbonna further revealed that during the time under review, 24 men of the armed forces and other law enforcement agencies were killed while in active duty, while another staggering number of 544 child abandonments were also recorded in parts of the country.

He equally gave a breakdown of some of the mass killings including: the gunmen killing of 30 workers in the Kauru local government area of Kaduna, the killing of 23 farmers in Ruwan Gora community in Talata Mararafa of Zamfara by bandits and the killing of 54 persons in different communities of Benue state by bandits and armed herdsmen.

There were other cases of mob attacks in Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and Bauchi states, just as attacks on the rights to food and food security featured prominently.

Some recorded incidents include: the abduction of two farmer in Ondo, the killing of a farmer in Kwali, FCT, the killing of a 60 year old farmer in Plateau and the killing of 18 farmers in Niger, amongst many others.

Similarly, there were cases of child abandonments as well as several cases of gender based domestic violence and sexual abuses recorded in the month of July.