Amnesty International Demands Probe Into Killings and Human Rights Abuses in South-East Nigeria

Amnesty International has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately investigate widespread killings, enforced disappearances, and other grave human rights violations in the South-East region.

The demand was made during the launch of its new report, A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria, on Thursday in Ikeja.

According to Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, the report documents alarming levels of violence between January 2021 and June 2023, during which at least 1,844 people were killed, while thousands more were displaced or subjected to atrocities by both state and non-state actors.

Sanusi highlighted that gunmen, often referred to locally as “unknown gunmen,” carried out deadly raids across states such as Imo and Anambra, with Imo State alone recording over 400 deaths between 2019 and 2021. At the same time, security forces and the state-backed Ebube Agu paramilitary group were accused of committing extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances.

The report further notes that insecurity has been worsened by sit-at-home orders enforced by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which have crippled daily life, shutting down schools, markets, and businesses.

Amnesty said its findings were based on extensive field research and over 100 interviews with survivors, victims’ relatives, community leaders, and lawyers conducted between April and November 2023. Survivors recounted brutal attacks, extortion at public events, and the burning of homes belonging to those who resisted.

“Communities have become ungoverned spaces, with traditional rulers ousted, residents displaced, and cult groups thriving in the absence of state protection,” Sanusi stated.

The rights watchdog urged the government to ensure transparent and impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable through fair trials, in line with Nigeria’s constitutional and international obligations.

“Victims and their families deserve justice and reparations,” Sanusi stressed.