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The Labour Party of Nigeria has expressed profound grief over the sudden and shocking death of Ms. Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, a rising news anchor with Arise Television, who was brutally cut down in the early hours of Monday, September 29, 2025, during an armed robbery incident at her residence in Abuja, the nation’s federal capital.

In a statement signed by the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Prince Tony Akeni, the party commiserated with Arise TV, describing the incident as both heartbreaking and disturbing, and emphasized that the loss of the 29-year-old broadcaster and lawyer was another painful reminder of Nigeria’s worsening and intractable insecurity crisis. The party lamented that Somtochukwu’s promising life and career were stolen in her prime, stressing that this tragedy reflects the distressingly endemic nature of violent crime in the country.

According to the Labour Party, the nation’s level of insecurity is abysmally low despite the enormous amounts of money budgeted for the sector by all tiers of government.

The statement painted a grim picture of a society where no one is safe, pointing out that even military generals, whether serving or retired, as well as Christian and Muslim clergy, travelers on the highways, housewives including pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, newlyweds, young toddlers and children in schools are vulnerable to abductions, attacks and violent deaths.

It condemned the prevailing situation where victims are brazenly snatched from their homes, classrooms, and roads within Abuja itself, and even more frequently along interstate highways and in rural communities.

The party lamented that captives are often marched into forests practically under the watch of security agencies and their checkpoints, and are then used as bargaining chips in ransom negotiations with their traumatized families.

In the most harrowing cases, the Labour Party noted that kidnappers, just like in Nazi death camps, cruelly select some of their victims and kill them in cold blood to send a brutal message to relatives of surviving captives in order to hasten ransom payments.

The Labour Party argued that in the face of such realities, a state of emergency on security ought to have been declared long ago if the government at all levels were truly sensitive, responsive and responsible to the plight of the people.

It recalled that after the Katsina mosque massacre of August 19, it had carefully researched and presented to the Federal Government disturbing statistics showing the extent of Nigeria’s insecurity crisis. That report, the party reiterated, revealed that while Nigeria is not at war, no fewer than 57 citizens die every single day as a result of violent crimes, a figure that is more alarming when compared with the casualty rate in Ukraine, which despite being in a major war with Russia, one of the world’s foremost military powers, suffers an average of 50 deaths daily. The Labour Party cited studies by Mediazona, the Book of Memory Group, the BBC and the American Library of Congress as sources that confirmed the shocking data, which it said should jolt the conscience of any responsible government.

As it mourned Somtochukwu’s painful passing, the party extended its condolences to her colleagues at Arise TV, her associates and immediate family, while using the opportunity to once again urge the Federal Government, the states and the local councils to prioritize citizens’ security above all else.

The Labour Party insisted that the colossal budgets appropriated for the security sector must be matched by measurable performance indices in protecting lives and property.

It called on government to stop feeding corruption with security votes that end up in private pockets, and instead channel such funds into the deployment of modern surveillance technology, including cutting-edge CCTV infrastructure across Nigerian cities, residential areas, schools and public facilities.

It also emphasized that the government should urgently enact national legislation recognizing private detectives as a professional vocation and establish private detective institutes across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

In the party’s view, this would be a far better use of resources than wasting public funds on frivolous consumption, presidential luxuries, or the continuous inflation of salaries and perks for political office holders who already enjoy overbloated remunerations.

The Labour Party stressed that if such reforms were implemented, young Nigerians like Somtochukwu and many others would be able to live out their full lives and contribute the benefits of their unique talents to the development of the fatherland.

Concluding its message, the party prayed that God would grant the late broadcaster’s gentle soul perfect rest and resurrection favour unto life everlasting, affirming that her death must not be in vain but should inspire the government to finally treat security as the sacred duty it is owed to every citizen.

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