This weekly update spotlights organized criminality in the Niger Delta with a focus on criminal violence in Rivers State. According to data (see map above), criminal violence caused over 200 fatalities in Rivers State between January 2020 and September 2022. Recent data shows that criminal violence including kidnapping, cult clashes and vigilante related violence is increasingly becoming a major driver of insecurity in the state. In September 2022, for instance, gunmen reportedly killed a commercial bus driver and abducted eight passengers along the Abonnema-Emohua-Buguma axis of the East-West Road in Emohua LGA. Separately, in September, gunmen reportedly attacked a commercial bus and abducted five passengers along the Emohua-Kalabari axis of the East-West Road in Emohua LGA. In October, a member of a disbanded local vigilante reportedly killed a community leader for allegedly exposing illegal oil bunkering activities in Mgbuola community, Emohua LGA. More recently, on October 20, 2022, suspected cultists reportedly killed two members of a local vigilante in Ompova Ibaa community in Emohua LGA.
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