Hashim Condemns Global Indifference to Nigeria's Mounting Security Crisis
Former presidential candidate Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has voiced deep concern over what he describes as a pervasive global silence regarding renewed waves of terror attacks and killings across various regions of Nigeria. He warns that this situation starkly reflects a worsening and persistent collapse of security infrastructure in the country.
Underreported Atrocities and Normalized Violence
Hashim, an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience from 1989, issued a statement from Kaduna on Sunday, highlighting that repeated assaults in areas like Shanga Local Government Area of Kebbi State, alongside incidents in the North Central region and other parts of Nigeria, continue to expose the alarming scale of insecurity. He lamented that many of these killings are either inadequately reported or increasingly normalized, pointing to what he termed "global indifference" toward Nigeria's escalating security crisis.
According to his account, recent attacks in Shanga LGA reportedly resulted in over 40 fatalities, with numerous houses set ablaze. Local sources indicate the death toll may rise as more bodies are recovered. Hashim added that similar attacks in preceding weeks claimed several lives, with affected communities enduring repeated assaults without sufficient security intervention.
Alarming Casualty Figures Across Regions
Hashim detailed comparable incidents in Kwara State, specifically in Kaiama, Baruten, and Ifelodun Local Government Areas, which have led to between 20 and 50 deaths in recent weeks, including forest guards. He noted that many of these events receive scant attention beyond local reporting.
The situation across the North Central region remains particularly dire. "In Benue State, repeated attacks have reportedly killed between 50 and over 100 people within weeks. In Plateau State, coordinated night raids have left between 30 and 80 dead, while Niger State has recorded 20 to 50 fatalities, and Nasarawa State has suffered 10 to 20 deaths from spillover violence," Hashim stated.
He emphasized that, collectively, these figures suggest between 130 and 300 individuals may have been killed in just a few weeks across the region. Such mass casualty levels, he argued, are met with "selective attention and dangerous silence" from the international community.
Critique of Global and Regional Responses
The former presidential candidate, who received the Lord Max Berhof Prize for Global Affairs in 2009, warned that the widening chasm between the grim reality on the ground and global awareness is increasingly troubling. He contended that mass killings in rural Nigeria are often treated as mere routine statistics rather than urgent humanitarian crises demanding immediate action.
Hashim also underscored the ongoing operations of armed groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), coupled with expanding bandit networks that exploit weak security presence, challenging terrain, and delayed response systems. At the national level, he asserted that recurring attacks across multiple states indicate a structural failure in security coordination, not isolated incidents.
He further criticized the muted responses of global institutions such as the United Nations and African Union, which he said have remained largely silent relative to the magnitude of violence. "Apart from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has shown consistent concern, most countries have accepted the dehumanization of Nigerian lives despite Nigeria's contributions to global peacekeeping efforts," Hashim remarked.
He expressed additional concern over the silence of African nations that have historically benefited from Nigeria's support and goodwill, suggesting a growing perception that Nigerian lives have been devalued in global consciousness to the extent that even routine expressions of condolence are becoming rare.
Pressing Questions on Moral Attention
Hashim posed several poignant questions: Why does the world appear desensitized to mass killings in Nigeria? Why do Nigerian deaths no longer provoke sustained global outrage? How many more lives must be lost before silence is viewed as complicity?
"These questions are no longer rhetorical but reflect a global system increasingly selective in its moral attention," he declared. For many observers, he added, the issue extends beyond mere insecurity to encompass the collapse of global response mechanisms in the face of repeated human loss.
Hashim warned that the current trajectory risks normalizing mass death, where tragedy becomes routine and urgency dissipates. He lamented that, for now, the harsh reality persists unabated: the killings continue, the numbers escalate, and far too many victims remain unseen and uncounted.
