No fewer than 27 Nigerians were killed during the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections held across the country, SB Morgan Intelligence, a data organisation, has stated in its report.

The organisation, in its report titled ‘#NigeriaDecides2023: State of Violence‘ and released on Monday, listed states where people were killed: Rivers, Delta, Benue, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi, Niger, Kebbi, Katsina, Cross-River, and Lagos.

The 2023 gubernatorial election was held in 28 states out of the 36 states of the federation. According to the report, the south-south led in the number of fatal causalities with 24 cases of violence. The north-central recorded seven deaths in about eight cases of violence.

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In the southwest, 30 cases of violence were recorded, which resulted in three deaths, while in the northwest, 11 cases of violence resulted in two deaths. The southeast had 12 cases of violence which resulted in one death, while in the northeast, five cases of violence were recorded with no death.

In all, 10 states were spotlighted for the extreme violence that led to the death of many Nigerians.

The organisation also said that the casualties might be more, as it was still monitoring unfolding developments.

“The March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections, held threes after the presidential and National Assembly elections were characterised by poor turnout but many had hoped that 2023 elections would be better, given the initial widespread enthusiasm,” the report read in part.

“Our research shows that logistics issues and violence resurfaced and Nigeria’s elections risk normalising ethnic-based voter suppression.

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“Thugs hijacked and burnt election materials in Ogbia, Bayelsa, making the Independent National Electoral Commission officials flee to Yenagoa for safety. ‘Iceland’ members were accused of threatening non-PDP voters in Rivers, while some thugs forcefully demanded access to election materials in Akwa-Ibom.

“The most striking examples of violence are from Lagos and other states where a long-standing ruling party wants to stay in power forcefully.”