Senator Natasha Mourns as Death Toll in Niger Market Massacre Hits 50

In a powerful rebuke of the persistent violence plaguing northern Nigeria, Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has condemned the horrific slaughter at Kasuwan Daji Market in Niger State. The attack, which occurred on Saturday, January 3, 2026, has seen the death toll climb to at least 50 people, with many others still missing after being dragged into the forest by gunmen. The Senator, speaking from Abuja on Monday, described the event as a “heartbreaking and senseless” tragedy that underscores a terrifying decline in rural security.

The massacre unfolded at approximately 4:30 p.m. in the Demo community of Borgu Local Government Area when dozens of gunmen on motorcycles stormed the bustling village market. Eyewitnesses described a three-hour reign of terror where attackers opened fire indiscriminately on traders, many of whom were women and children. After the initial slaughter, the assailants looted food supplies and set the market stalls ablaze, leaving the community’s primary economic hub in ruins before retreating into the nearby National Park Forest hideouts.

“My heart is heavy as I mourn the innocent men and women who were brutally murdered at Kasuwan Daji,” Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan stated, expressing her deep sorrow for the “ordinary Nigerians” whose lives were cut short while pursuing their livelihoods. She noted that the burning of the market does more than just destroy property; it devastates the local economy and inflicts long-term trauma on a community already living in fear. Her statement comes amid reports that survivors were initially too terrified to even return to the site to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.

The Senator’s condemnation adds to a growing wave of national outrage. President Bola Tinubu has already directed a “hunt down” of the perpetrators, who authorities believe are bandits fleeing from recent military airstrikes in the northwest. However, Akpoti-Uduaghan warned against the “normalization” of these tragedies, calling for a shift away from reactive measures toward a proactive, intelligence-led security strategy. She argued that rural and vulnerable areas like Borgu deserve the “full weight of the law” to protect them from such predatory forces.

This latest incident in Borgu occurs in a region still reeling from the mass abduction of over 300 schoolchildren just months ago. For Akpoti-Uduaghan, the repetition of these attacks is a “tragic reminder” that the current security apparatus is struggling to keep pace with the evolving tactics of armed gangs. She prayed for the families of the victims, asking for God to grant them the fortitude to bear losses she described as “irreparable” to the fabric of the nation.

As the community held a mass funeral for the victims on Monday, the Senator’s call for justice serves as a rallying cry for more effective protection of Nigeria’s “fountains of economy”—the rural markets. While security forces claim to have now deployed to the area, the Senator insists that only sustained presence and the apprehension of the killers can restore any semblance of confidence among the people.