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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
No fewer than 6,000 families in the South East are still searching for their sons and daughters who allegedly disappeared in the custody of the Nigerian military and other security agencies since January 2021, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) and the United States-based Ekwenche Research Institute have claimed.
The organisations made the claim in a joint international report released yesterday.
The report signed by the Lead Researcher and Head of Intersociety Nigeria, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and President and Chairman of the Board, Ekwenche Research Institute, Prof. Justin Akujieze, alleged widespread abductions, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations in the region.
The organisations said about 70 percent of the 6,000 people, whose whereabouts remained unknown, were allegedly taken into military custody, while 20 percent and 10 percent were attributed to arrests by police crack squads and personnel of the State Security Service (SSS), respectively.
The report stated: “According to findings by our Researchers and Investigators, not less than 6,000 Igbo and South East families have not traced alive or dead their beloved sons and daughters of productive age-brackets who went missing in the hands of the Nigerian military officers and personnel.”
It added: “It is also estimated that 70% of the victims were those gone missing in the hands of the military in South East since January 2021, from where they were abducted and bundled to different military dungeons and other secret detention facilities and, especially, dumped inside the WAWA Military Cantonment in Kainji, Niger State.”
The groups further alleged that no fewer than 5,000 other unarmed citizens of the former Eastern Nigeria had disappeared after arrests or abductions linked to protests over self-determination between August 2015 and July 2026.
The report said: “Also circumstantially found by our Researchers and Investigators was that no fewer than 5,000 other unarmed citizens of the Old Eastern Nigeria abducted by trio of the military, police crack squads and internal intelligence establishment (SSS) in violent response to ‘Pro Biafra Self Determination Civil Protests’ have not been traced alive or dead by their families or lawyers till date.”
The organisations also claimed that no fewer than 11,000 South East civilians were unlawfully killed by military personnel between August 2015 and July 2026, although the allegations and figures could not be independently verified.
They cited the military operations in Abia State in September 2017, alleging that more than 180 unarmed civilians were killed and hundreds abducted.
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The report stated: “One of the earliest military mass killings and abductions and zero whereabouts of their living or dead body persons took is found to have taken place between Sept 11 and 14, 2017, during which more than 180 unarmed Igbo and South East civilians are circumstantially found to have been secretly and openly killed in Afara-Ukwu and other parts of Umuahia, Asa, Aba, Ogwe, and Isiala-Ngwa in Abia State.”
The groups also alleged that about 400 South East civilians were abducted by the military between January and July 2026 and remained unaccounted for.
They said: “The Nigerian military and other security agencies’ involvement in mass civilian abductions across the South East have continued into the first seven months of 2026, with estimated 400 South East Judeo-Christian civilians abducted by the military-with no traces of their whereabouts, dead or alive till date.”
The report alleged that the disappearances had created fear among families and contributed to reluctance by some parents to allow their children to enlist in the Armed Forces.
The organisations said: “It is in totality of the above that tens of thousands of Igbo and South East families withdraw from giving their beloved sons and daughters of military recruitment age and academic and professional qualifications permission to be enlisted into the Nigerian Armed Forces.”
The organisations also claimed that attacks attributed to armed herders had worsened the security situation, alleging that about 7,000 Judeo-Christian civilians had been killed since April 2016 and another 200 ambushed, abducted, and killed on roads and in forests between January and July 2026.
They listed communities in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states as affected, with Ezeagu, Isi-Uzo, Uzo-Uwani, and Nkanu East in Enugu among areas they described as the worst hit.
Intersociety and Ekwenche Research Institute called for independent international investigations into alleged human rights violations in the South East and South-South.
They said: “We are jointly calling for invocation of international justice and accountability processes over the raging egregious and grisly ethno-religious persecution rooted in structural, cultural, and physical violence in Igbo land South East Nigeria.”
They urged the United Nations to deploy relevant experts to investigate alleged extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, religious persecution, and attacks on civilians.
The organisations also called for independent judicial commissions of inquiry by future South East governments to investigate alleged mass abductions, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings since 2015.
