By Jude Michael
International rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has unveiled a report chronicling chilling stories of killings in the South East of Nigeria by state and non-state actors in the past 10 years, resulting in the killing of 1, 844 people.
Top officials of the group unveiled the report titled: ‘’A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in South East Nigeria’’, in Enugu, Enugu State, during a press conference attended by the media, lawyers and heads of civil society organizations.
The group’s Director, AI Nigeria, Mr Isa Sanusi, who read a text of the brief overview of key findings in the work, said Nigerian authorities must investigate human rights violations in the South-East Region, which, he said, had happened in the past 10 years, starting from August 2015 to date.
He said: ‘The persistent failure of 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 non-state actors have committed serious human rights violations and killed at least 1,844 people between January 2021 and June 2023.
‘The Nigerian authorities must begin addressing the security crisis in the South-East Region by carrying out transparent, impartial and effective investigation of killings, assassinations, enforced disappearances and other atrocities committed by state and non-state actors since August 2015.
‘The report: ‘’A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria’’, which documents unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in the hands of rampaging gunmen, state-backed paramilitary outfits, vigilante, criminal gangs and cult 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 group blamed the Nigerian authorities’ brutal clampdown on pro-Biafra protests from August 2015 as the genesis of the problem, which, they said, plunged the South-East Region into an endless cycle of bloodshed that had 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.
‘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 South East 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 life 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. 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,’ Sanusi said.
The conference featured testimonies from victims. They included the Palace Secretary of Lilu Community, one of the communities affected by activities of separatists in Anambra State, Dr Dominic Okoli; and Mr Nduka Ozor, and indigene of Agwa Community in Imo State.
Ozor who gave a chilling detail of how his brother was abducted and killed, in 2022, said that the people referred to as unknown gunmen were very well known in the community but no one dared to speak.
He broke down in the middle of his testimony, recalling, ‘November of same year, Dr Asor, a famous traditional ruler from my village, was abducted and killed, while Agwa Police Station was also burnt down.
‘Property worth over N1 billion was destroyed, many people disappeared. When they kill, they cut off the heads and display it at the marketplace. If they entered your shop and took what they wanted, you never dared to ask for money. We are calling on government to ensure justice for those who lost their lives.’
