The National Human Rights Commission has declared May 2026 one of the most devastating months for human rights in Nigeria in living memory, releasing a dashboard showing 390 people were killed, 202 were abducted, and 268,787 complaints were lodged with the commission in a single calendar month, with schools, places of worship, rural communities, and security formations among the scenes of the worst violence.
Executive Secretary Dr. Tony Ojukwu said the month’s casualty record challenged the country’s collective commitment to human dignity at a fundamental level, with children torn from classrooms, worshippers killed and kidnapped during prayers, soldiers and police officers ambushed while on duty, and civilians caught in military operations. He described the aggregate as a humanitarian crisis requiring national emergency attention rather than routine administrative response.
The commission highlighted the abduction of more than 45 pupils and teachers from schools in Oyo State, more than 40 children kidnapped in Borno State, and the killing and abduction of 15 worshippers in Kwara State as among the month’s most disturbing episodes. It renewed its call for a national civilian protection policy governing military operations after a reported airstrike struck a civilian market in Zamfara State, while simultaneously commending the armed forces for operations that rescued abductees and neutralized insurgents in Borno and other areas during the same period.
Ojukwu said the violations documented constituted breaches of constitutional guarantees to life, dignity, personal liberty, education, and freedom of religion, and called on government agencies and security institutions to invest more in school safety, improve operational accountability, and provide psychological and social support to the thousands of Nigerians affected by violence each month.
