Amnesty International has called on Nigerian authorities to urgently tackle the escalating security crisis in the country’s South-East region.
In a statement released in Enugu on Tuesday, the global human rights organisation urged the government to conduct transparent, impartial and effective investigations into killings, assassinations, enforced disappearances, and other abuses committed by both state and non-state actors since August 2015.
According to Amnesty, the government’s persistent failure to address the situation has created a climate of impunity, enabling widespread human rights violations. At least 1,844 people were killed between January 2021 and June 2023.
Its latest report, A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria, documents a pattern of unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests perpetrated by armed groups, state-backed paramilitary forces, vigilantes, criminal gangs, and cult groups. Amnesty said the report offers sufficient evidence for authorities to launch investigations that could end impunity and deliver justice for victims.
“The brutal crackdown on pro-Biafra protests since August 2015 plunged the South-East into a cycle of violence, fostering fear and insecurity,” said Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Director. “The assassinations of prominent figures and repeated attacks on security personnel and infrastructure are stark reminders of the region’s volatile situation.”
The report, based on interviews with 100 individuals including survivors, relatives of victims, civil society actors, and traditional and religious leaders, draws on research conducted in several South-Eastern cities between April and November 2023.
Amnesty highlighted that over 400 people were killed in Imo State alone between January 2019 and December 2021. Armed groups, often unmasked, attacked residents, police stations, and vigilante offices, sometimes extorting money from communities during ceremonies and punishing resistance with violent reprisals.
Authorities frequently blame the pro-Biafran Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), for the violence. IPOB and ESN deny involvement, though their enforced sit-at-home orders since August 2021 have themselves led to rights violations, including beatings and killings. Schools have shut down, examinations disrupted, and markets closed, resulting in severe economic hardship.
The insecurity has severely restricted people’s rights, including freedom of movement. Many avoid travelling to their hometowns for fear of attacks or kidnappings. Traditional events such as weddings and funerals are now often held outside the region. Armed groups have seized control of some communities, ousted traditional leaders, and displaced residents.
Amnesty also accused the state-backed Ebube Agu paramilitary force of harassment, arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances. Security agencies, including the police and military, have also been implicated in unlawful killings and property destruction during operations in the region.
Despite the widespread abuses, justice remains elusive. “The number of killings and the prevailing fear of attacks show how badly authorities are failing to protect lives and maintain law and order,” said Sanusi. “Impunity for human rights violations continues to undermine the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms.”
Amnesty urged Nigerian authorities to fulfil their constitutional and international obligations by safeguarding the rights to life, liberty, security, and safety. It called for immediate, independent, and thorough investigations into all alleged abuses by state and non-state actors to break the cycle of violence and impunity in the South-East.