Amnesty International demands urgent probe into widespread killings in South-East

Amnesty International has urged Nigeria’s Federal Government to launch immediate investigations into widespread killings, enforced disappearances, and severe human rights violations plaguing the South-East region.

 

The call was made during the launch of its report, ‘A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria,’ on Thursday in Lagos.

 

Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, highlighted the report’s findings, stating, “Between January 2021 and June 2023, at least 1,844 people were killed, with thousands more dead or displaced due to atrocities by state and non-state actors.”

 

The report documents violence including unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and attacks by armed groups, with Sanusi noting, “Gunmen, locally termed ‘unknown gunmen,’ have conducted deadly raids across Imo, Anambra, and other states, claiming over 400 lives in Imo alone from 2019 to 2021.”

 

Sanusi also accused security forces and the state-backed Ebube paramilitary group of committing grave abuses, such as extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

 

He explained that insecurity, exacerbated by sit-at-home orders from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its Eastern Security Network (ESN), has disrupted daily life, shuttering schools, markets, and businesses.

 

The report, based on field research and over 100 interviews conducted between April and November 2023 with survivors, victims’ families, community leaders, and lawyers, paints a grim picture.

 

“Communities have become ‘ungoverned spaces,’ with traditional rulers ousted, residents displaced, and cult groups thriving amid absent state protection,” Sanusi said.

 

He added, “Survivors described brutal attacks where armed assailants invaded villages, extorted money at public events, and torched homes of those who resisted.”

 

Amnesty International called for transparent and impartial investigations to address these atrocities, restore security, and deliver justice.

 

“The government must conduct fair and unbiased probes into these crimes, uphold Nigeria’s constitutional and international obligations to protect lives and security, and ensure perpetrators face justice in fair trials,” Sanusi emphasized.

 

He further stressed that victims and their families deserve access to justice and effective reparations.