As voters in three states of Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo count down to the off cycle governorship elections, there have been many claims about diverse issues. In Kogi State, the issue of insecurity has taken center stage, with concerns about violence, kidnapping, and other crimes plaguing the state.
One such claim was made by Senator Dino Melaye, who is running for governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Senator Melaye claimed Kogi State has the highest number of missing persons in Nigeria.
Melaye made the claim during an interview on Channels Television, while criticizing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He said: “As I speak with you, the level of violence invoked in Kogi State is something that has never been seen in the history of our country.
Today, Kogi has the highest number of missing persons in the Federal Republic of Nigeria; many people are missing, including the chairman of Okene Local Government.”
To validate the veracity of Senator Melaye’s claim, The Explainer fact checking desk conducted a keyword search online. This led us to the 2022 Annual report published by EnoughisEnough Nigeria (EiE), an NGO that monitors and documents data on missing persons in Nigeria.
According to the report, 103 people were reported missing between January and June of 2022. Out of these cases, Kaduna had the highest number with 27 missing persons, while Kogi State ranked fourth with eight missing persons.
The same report also documented missing persons between July and September of 2022, during which Kaduna remained the state with the highest number of missing persons. Kogi State ranked seventh, with one reported missing person.
Additionally, an analysis conducted by Dataphyte on the number of reported kidnapping incidents in Nigeria between June 2022 and July 2023 revealed that Kogi State ranked sixth in terms of the states with the highest number of reported kidnapping cases.
Kaduna, Zamfara, and Niger states topped the list. Based on researched based data sources, Senator Melaye’s claim about Kogi State having the highest number of missing persons in Nigeria is misleading.
