From 10 to 62: Binnari and the Cost of Counting Late

On Friday, 23 October, gunmen entered Binnari, a river market town in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State, shortly after Jumu’ah prayers on market day. Houses were burned and goods looted. Residents ran for the Benue River and the canoes that link the town to its neighbours. Many did not make it.
Over the following days the official toll rose from ten, the first figure given by police, to at least 62, reported by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on 27 October. NEMA says 52 bodies have been recovered, 15 of them from the river, and 52 people were wounded. Police say the figure is not yet final. In between, residents, community leaders, Amnesty International and the press published at least five other numbers.
The gap is not a technicality. Early police figures usually count only bodies officers have recovered themselves. Yet that first number shapes how much relief reaches a community, how seriously Abuja treats an attack, and whether anyone is held to account.
Residents say this was the third attack on their town in two years. The area is remote and forested, and its roads are poor: police reportedly arrived the next morning, soldiers that evening. Residents allege the attackers crossed from Plateau State. No security agency has confirmed or ruled out that route, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Governor Agbu Kefas has extended Karim Lamido’s designation as an area of special security concern for another six months. That status was first imposed in January. It did not prevent this attack.
Three questions remain. Will the police publish a reconciled toll and a list of the missing? Will federal agencies confirm the cross-border route and patrol it? And what becomes of the thousands of displaced families whose harvest was still in the fields?
Rimamnde Shawulu is a political and security analyst and host of Ndeya Live.
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