Analyst Faults Amnesty Report On Death Toll Under Tinubu Administration, says it’s laced with inflated figures
Mr Tersoo Chiahemen, a Public Affairs commentator, has questioned the ethics and integrity of Amnesty International (AI) in addressing dicey issues of national concern.
Chiahemen, who stated this while reacting to Amnesty’s report captioned; ‘Nigeria: Mounting Death Toll and Looming Humanitarian Crisis Amid Unchecked Attacks by Armed Groups’, stressed that the organisation has turned itself into a tool for sensationalism and irritable soft-power coercion.
In a statement made available to Newsmen, the Abuja based commentator, who is also an expert in criminology, noted that the latest report is totally bereft of methodological clarity, laced with inflated figures, and dangerously divisive in its conclusions.
He stressed that the report not only demands a response from the Nigerian government, and all patriotic Nigerians at that but from the international community and Amnesty’s own leadership, thus challenged Amnesty International to as a matter of necessity and fairness, subject its latest report to independent audit and publicly release its sources and methodologies.
Accordingly, Chiahemen condemned in strong terms the report of Amnesty International, stressing that it only set off alarm bells with a sensationalist unverified report by alleging that over 10,000 people have been killed by bandits and armed groups in Northern Nigeria and a staggering 98% of those from two states alone since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office two years ago.
He emphasised that with dramatic headlines like “Bandits Sacked 672 Villages and Killed Over 10,000 under Tinubu,” Amnesty International has only managed to attract widespread media attention, but with very little scrutiny.
In the words of Chiahemen; “scrutiny is what this report sorely needs. The horrific picture painted in alluding to 6,896 people killed in Benue and 2,630 in Plateau, representing over 98% of the deaths it attributes to the entire country, is beyond reason.
“This is not just improbable—it is inflammatory and potentially dangerous. By exaggerating fatalities in two ethnically and religiously sensitive states, the report risks exacerbating tensions and deepening divisions,” he stressed.
Chiahemen noted that the kind of data distortion by Amnesty International is not merely sloppy, but seriously reckless, stressing that contrary to Amnesty’s inflated and unverified claims, data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a globally respected and methodologically sound organization tells a starkly different story.
The cerebral Gboko, Benue State based commentator observed that ACLED, which uses daily source-based data collection methods and maintains on ground presence, reports that total fatalities in Benue and Plateau from 2023 to 2025 stand at 2,132:
– Benue: 497 (2023), 650 (2024), 155 (2025)
– Plateau: 401 (2023), 320 (2024), 109 (2025)
(Source: ACLED Data for Nigeria, 2023–2025)
He explained that the figures indicated a downward trend as against bloodbath propagated by Amnesty International, saying; “if one must ask: how did Amnesty arrive at numbers nearly five times higher than those from ACLED?”
Chiahemen further asked; “What sources did it use? Were those sources independently verified? Were the deaths categorized caused by criminality, conflict, accidents or natural causes?
“The report answers none of these vital questions, revealing a glaring lack of transparency and rigour,” it stressed.
Chiahemen noted that Amnesty International which was once perceived as a beacon of rigourous research and moral clarity in the fight for global human rights, had glaringly descended in what looked like political mud, adding also, that its latest report is any of those indications, stressing that the organisation has traded professionalism for pointless propaganda.
According to Chiahemen; “To suggest that the Nigerian government is doing little beyond media statements is a baseless smear. The Tinubu administration has deployed strategic military operations, invested in community-led security architecture, and prioritized disarmament and peacebuilding in volatile regions.
“Yes, challenges persist especially in rural and border areas, but the blanket assertion of state inaction is both inaccurate, myopic, and most unfair.
“The question must now be asked: Is Amnesty International still committed to truth and justice in Nigeria, or has it become a tool for sensationalism and soft-power coercion? Its latest report is bereft of methodological clarity, inflated in its numbers, and dangerously divisive in its conclusions and demands a response not just from the Nigerian government, but from the international community and Amnesty’s own leadership,” he said.
Chiahemen, therefore, tasked Amnesty International to engage with credible data institutions like ACLED and Nigerian civil society actors to support it in doing a proper and professionally grounded job.
He further said; “And more importantly, it must ask itself whether it still has the moral and analytical capacity to do the work it claims to champion. Until then, we are left with a troubling truth: Amnesty’s report is not a wake-up call—it is a work of fiction. And one that does more harm than good”.
