Nigeria’s southeast reels from killings, disappearances and fear

A relentless wave of killings, kidnappings and enforced disappearances has claimed at least 1,844 lives in Nigeria’s southeast between January 2021 and June 2023, Amnesty International said Wednesday, warning that both state and non-state actors operate with near-total impunity.

In a new report titled A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria, the rights watchdog documented arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial executions and mass displacement across the five states of the region. The abuses, it said, have been carried out by armed gangs known locally as “unknown gunmen,” separatist fighters, cult groups, and state-backed security outfits.

“The government must stop turning a blind eye to unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances,” said Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria. “Authorities must ensure all perpetrators face justice in fair trials, regardless of their status, and provide remedies for victims and their families.”

The report draws on 100 interviews with survivors, relatives, civil society workers, traditional leaders and lawyers. Amnesty researchers also visited hotspots including Owerri in Imo state, Asaba in Delta state, Obosi in Anambra state and Enugu between April and November 2023.

Violent raids and reprisal attacks
Imo state has borne a heavy toll, with more than 400 people killed by gunmen between January 2019 and December 2021. Armed groups, often unmasked, storm police stations, vigilante offices and civilian homes, looting and torching property.

Residents said the gangs sometimes demand “security levies” at weddings and funerals, punishing non-payment with nighttime raids. “If they come for an attack, anyone that blocks their way, they will kill them,” said Ebulie, a survivor from Ihiala in Anambra state.

Authorities often blame the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), for such attacks. IPOB denies involvement, accusing criminal elements of exploiting the unrest.

In August 2021, IPOB declared a “sit-at-home” order to press for the release of its detained leader Nnamdi Kanu. Amnesty said the order has triggered rights abuses, with civilians beaten or killed for defying it. Markets have shut, exams disrupted and schools closed across Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, causing severe economic hardship.

Communities abandoned
Fear of attack has kept many southeastern Nigerians from returning to their ancestral homes. Traditional weddings and burials now often take place in other regions.

Gunmen have effectively taken control of some communities, ousting traditional rulers and forcing residents to flee. Amnesty cited Agwa and Izombe in Imo state’s Oguta district and Lilu in Anambra state’s Ihiala district as examples of areas turned into “ungoverned spaces.”

Cult gangs, operating alongside a thriving drug trade, have committed killings and other abuses in Anambra towns including Obosi, Awka, Onitsha, Ogidi and Umuoji, the report said.

Abuses by state forces
The Ebube Agu paramilitary force, set up by southeast governors in April 2021, has been implicated in harassment, arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial executions, Amnesty said.

Security agencies – including the army and police – have also carried out unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions and destruction of property during operations in the region. Victims often receive no compensation or redress.

“No one knows exactly the number of people killed in the southeast since August 2015,” Sanusi said. “Many have been declared missing or forcibly disappeared. The continuing fear of attack, anywhere and anytime, shows how badly authorities are failing to protect lives.”

Cycle of violence
Amnesty traces the roots of today’s crisis to the violent clampdown on pro-Biafra protests in 2015, which it says unleashed a cycle of bloodshed. Since then, assassinations of local leaders, ambushes on highways, and assaults on police and military installations have become frequent.

The rights group urged the government to fulfill its constitutional and international obligations to protect life and security, and to launch prompt, transparent and independent investigations into all alleged violations by both state and non-state actors.

“Ending this climate of impunity is essential,” Sanusi said. “Without accountability, the violence will continue to erode human rights across the southeast.”

This is an edited version of the report published by Amnesty International on Aug. 13, 2025