Civil Society Groups have condemned the killing of over 185 people in Baga Town of Borno State.
Residents of the town said the victims died during the clash, from Friday night to Saturday morning, between insurgents and the Nigerian Joint Task Force, JTF; with majority dying from a resulting fire that razed the community.
While residents claim the fire was started by the soldiers, the JTF said the fire was caused by the Rocket Propelled Grenades used by the insurgents.
Apart from the people killed, about 2000 houses, 64 motorcycles and 40 were also burnt in the attack; even as the Nigerian Red Cross said the casualty is 187.
Condemning the action of the security forces, the Chairman of the Human And Environmental Development Agenda, Olanrewaju Suraju, said “the situation is rather an unfortunate one, which shows that the government does not appreciate the value of lives.”
“The human life is less than a naira in this country, it is very cheap to get a human killed than to get a job in this country, the killing simple shows that there is a great collapse in the security sector.
“The government cannot provide good education, good health facilities, employment, security, how then will they now know the value of life?” he added.
Reacting to the killings, Yinka Odumakin, spokesperson of Save Nigeria Group said “where is it in the world that a total number of 185 people died as a result of war in a day and nothing is being done about it.”
“It shows the high level of insecurity In the country. It’s a shame on us and a shame on the security sector.
“Take a look at marathon bombing (in the U.S.), a suspect has been caught which means the government is not asleep, the government in Nigeria should stop saying we will bring the perpetuators to justice or we are to going to get to the bottom of this but should wake up and act,” he said
The Nigerian Army has, meanwhile, claimed that the casualty figure is not as high as being reported. The Defence Headquarters spokesperson, Chris Kolade, a Brigadier General, said 25 insurgents and one soldier was killed in the attack. He did not mention the figure for civilian casualties
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