Amnesty International says Nigerian authorities must begin to address the security crisis in the South-East region of the country.
In a statement it released in Enugu on Tuesday, the international human rights group said that to address the crisis, the Nigerian government to carry out transparent, impartial and effective investigation of killings, assassinations, enforced disappearances and other atrocities committed by state and non-state actors since August 2015.
It noted that the persistent failure of the government to address the security crisis in the country’s South-East region has created a free-for-all reign of impunity in which numerous state and nonstate actors have committed serious human rights violations and killed at least 1,844 people between January 2021 and June 2023.
The rights group added that the report: A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria, which documents unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests at the hands of rampaging gunmen, state-backed paramilitary outfits, vigilante, criminal gangs and cults groups in the South-East region provides the authorities with adequate leads to open an investigation that will end the impunity and provide victims with justice.
“The Nigerian authorities’ brutal clampdown on pro-Biafra protests from August 2015 plunged the South-East region into an endless cycle of bloodshed, which has created a climate of fear and left many communities vulnerable.
“Assassinations of prominent personalities and attacks on highways, security personnel and facilities are chilling reminders of the region’s insecurity,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
The report, according to Amnesty, is based on interviews with 100 people, including survivors, victims’ relatives, civil society members, lawyers, traditional leaders, and religious leaders.
Amnesty International said it also conducted research missions to Owerri in Imo state, Asaba in Delta state, Obosi in Anambra state, and Enugu in Enugu state between April 2023 to November 2023.
Violent attacks by “unknown gunmen”
Gunmen killed over 400 people in Imo state between January 2019 and December 2021, often emerging from their camps unmasked to carry out attacks on residents, police stations, and vigilante offices, the rights group disclosed.
The raids, it noted, have triggered reprisal attacks resulting in death and injury for thousands of residents.
According to Amnesty International, victims described how the gunmen appear, routinely demanding money from communities during burial ceremonies and weddings.
Anyone who resists risks being subjected to violent attack during the night, and their house set on fire.
Ebulie, who survived an attack by gunmen in Ihiala told Amnesty International: “The “unknown gunmen” are armed – some come with guns, cutlasses, and machetes. If they come for an attack, anyone that blocks their way, they will kill them. It has been a terrible situation, people are scared…”
Nigerian authorities continue to blame the pro-Biafran organization IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) and its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) for most of the deadly attacks in the region.
IPOB/ESN deny involvement in the activities of the “unknown gunmen” and their camps.
However, the enforcement of a sit-at-home order by IPOB/ESN, across the South-East region, issued on 9 August 2021, has led to human rights violations with people beaten or even killed for defying the order, Amnesty noted.
“Schools have been shut, exams disrupted, forcing children to stay away from schools. Markets have been closed with harsh economic consequences for communities across Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.
Climate of fear and disruption to daily life
The Amnesty International statement further revealed that “Insecurity in South-East Nigeria has affected people’s rights including the rights to life, physical integrity, security, liberty and freedom of movement. Many people have not travelled to their hometowns for several years for fear of attack or abduction.
“Traditional marriage and burial ceremonies that were normally conducted in people’s ancestral homes now mostly take place in other communities outside the South-East due to fear of attack by the gunmen. Gunmen have turned some communities into “ungoverned spaces,” by sacking traditional rulers, displacing residents, and taking total control of communities, including Agwa and Izombe in the Oguta Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo state and Lilu in Ihiala LGA of Anambra State.
“The report reveals how the state-backed Ebube Agu paramilitary force, established by the South-East governors on 11 April 2021, has been used as a tool to harass and intimidate opponents and critics of the state governments. It is also responsible for arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and destruction of homes.
“During military operations in the South-East, Nigerian security agencies, including the military and police, committed unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and destruction of property.”
It added that despite the scale of the atrocities against the people, justice and adequate reparations have eluded victims of the violence.
“No one knows exactly the number of people killed in the southeast since August 2015. Many people have been declared missing or forcibly disappeared.
“The number of high-profile killings and the consistent fear of possible attacks, anywhere and anytime, show how badly the authorities are failing to protect lives and property and ensure law and order.
“Impunity for these human rights crimes continues to have a chilling effect on the enjoyment of other human rights,” said Isa Sanusi.
“The Nigerian authorities must uphold their constitutional and international human rights obligations by guaranteeing, protecting and ensuring the rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty, security and safety of the people and stemming the tide of rampant insecurity in the South-East region.
“Authorities must undertake prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into all allegations of violations and abuses committed by state and non-state actors in the region.”
