The rights group urges governors and security agencies to investigate alleged unlawful killings, disappearances and abuses across the region
Amnesty International Nigeria on Thursday, August 20, 2026, in Umuahia, Abia State, called on South-East governors, the Federal Ministry of Justice and security agencies to urgently investigate alleged human rights violations, unlawful killings and enforced disappearances across the region, as families of missing relatives renewed appeals for justice.
Also read: Amnesty: 1,800 killed in South-East Nigeria in two years
The call was made at a town hall on human rights violations and accountability in the South-East, where Amnesty presented two major reports documenting violence and alleged abuses by both non-state actors and security personnel.
The reports, titled A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in South-East Nigeria and Tiger Base of Atrocities:
Human Rights Violations by Nigeria Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit in Owerri, place renewed attention on the human cost of years of insecurity in the region.
Amnesty’s 2025 report found that at least 1,844 people were killed across Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states between January 2021 and June 2023.
The organisation said the figure was drawn from available data and covered deaths arising from protests, violent clashes, abductions, mob violence, separatist activity, riots and electoral violence.
The report did not attribute the killings to a single actor. Amnesty identified alleged violations involving defence and security forces, IPOB and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, so-called unknown gunmen, cult groups, vigilantes and the state-backed Ebube Agu outfit.
Speaking in Umuahia, Benedicta Ofili of Amnesty International Nigeria said the organisation had brought the discussion to Abia to confront what she described as a painful reality of deaths, silence and prolonged struggles for justice.
“We gather here in Abia State to confront a bitter reality. Following previous launches in Lagos and Enugu, we bring this vital conversation directly to Abia,” Ofili said.
She said the continuing violence had left communities facing displacement, disrupted education and restrictions on movement, including the enforcement of sit-at-home orders.
Amnesty’s wider investigation found that the security crisis had also created areas where state authority was weakened or displaced, while residents faced violations of their rights to life, movement and education.
At the centre of Thursday’s discussion was the question of accountability.
Ofili said many documented incidents had not been followed by independent investigations or prosecutions, allowing what the organisation described as a cycle of impunity to persist.
“The cycle of impunity continues without thorough, independent investigations or prosecutions,” she said.
The second report brought the focus closer to the conduct of law enforcement agencies, particularly the Imo State Police Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit, commonly known as Tiger Base.
Amnesty published its Tiger Base investigation in February 2026 after documenting allegations of prolonged arbitrary detention, torture, extortion, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody.
The organisation said detainees were held in overcrowded and poorly ventilated cells and alleged that some suspects were detained for weeks or months without being brought before a court.
Amnesty researcher Maurice Chukwu said the investigation uncovered allegations extending beyond unlawful detention to physical abuse, extortion and disappearances.
He also raised concerns over cases involving children allegedly separated from detained mothers without proper official records.
“These actions directly violate the Nigerian Constitution, the Anti-Torture Act of 2017, and international human rights frameworks,” Chukwu said.
Amnesty has previously called for an independent, impartial and effective investigation into the conduct of officers attached to Tiger Base, including the unit’s commander and other personnel, and has urged prosecution where evidence establishes criminal responsibility.
The organisation’s findings have generated an important distinction in the South-East debate.
While armed groups and criminal networks have been accused of grave abuses against residents and security personnel, allegations against state actors also require scrutiny because security operations are expected to operate within constitutional and legal safeguards.
Amnesty’s 2025 regional report similarly documented abuses attributed to multiple actors rather than presenting the insecurity as the responsibility of one organisation or institution.
The concern has also featured in external assessments of the region. A United Kingdom government country policy report published in April 2026 cited Amnesty’s estimate of 1,844 deaths between January 2021 and June 2023 and noted the organisation’s documentation of killings by unknown gunmen, cult groups and IPOB/ESN, among others.
For families attending Thursday’s town hall, however, the statistics were deeply personal.
Miriam Onyema said her husband, Kingsley Chinedu, was arrested at Hospital Junction in Imo State on April 25, 2021, and had not returned home despite efforts to establish his whereabouts.
Esther Chinedu said her husband, Pastor Godspower Chinedu, was arrested in 2022 and that the family had since been unable to see him despite visits to several police detention facilities.
Caroline Chukwuma alleged that her husband, Chukwuma Nwokike, was abducted at St Paul Junction in Aba in 2021 and later transferred to Abuja, while she and her lawyers were allegedly denied access to him.
Chinwendu Chidiebere similarly alleged that her husband, Chidiebere Ekwe, was arrested at his workshop in Aba on June 22, 2021, and taken to CPS Aba, where the family was allegedly prevented from seeing him.
One of the most emotional accounts came from Nicolas Ejekwu, who tearfully recounted the alleged arrest of his sons, Obinna and Onyebuchi, by soldiers at his home.
Ejekwu said he was later informed that the two men had been tortured and killed and that their bodies were taken to the Federal Medical Centre in Umuahia.
The allegations presented at the town hall have not been independently established in court.
Cecilia Nmaoche also said her son, Christian Ifeanyi, was abducted by security operatives in 2022 and had not been seen or heard from since.
The families made a common appeal: where there is evidence against an arrested person, the individual should be charged before a competent court, while those against whom there is no lawful basis for detention should be released.
The appeal places due process at the heart of the debate. Insecurity has created a difficult environment for security agencies operating against armed groups, but human rights organisations argue that the fight against crime cannot remove constitutional protections or eliminate the need for transparent investigations.
Representing Abia State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Ikechukwu Uwanna, the Director of the Citizens’ Rights Department, Chinonyere Patience Onyemenaonu, said the state government had mechanisms for addressing complaints of rights violations.
She said the ministry could not direct the police on operational matters but could receive complaints, engage victims and make recommendations to the Attorney General.
“When matters get to us, whether on human rights violations, what do we do? We engage the aggrieved victims.
We call on them, we interview them, we hear them out, and then we make our recommendations to the Attorney General for appropriate action,” she said.
Uwanna, who has served as Abia’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice since 2023, has previously said the state’s justice ministry was working to strengthen access to legal services and the administration of justice.
For Amnesty, however, mechanisms for receiving complaints must be matched by credible investigations and consequences where wrongdoing is established.
Chukwu said the organisation wanted documented allegations investigated, suspects prosecuted through fair trials and survivors and victims’ families provided with appropriate reparations.
“This re-launch in Abia State is not merely a presentation of statistics; it is a call for accountability,” he said.
That call comes amid a wider pattern of Amnesty investigations into alleged abuses by Nigerian security agencies.
In April 2026, for example, the organisation called for an investigation into the reported deaths of at least 150 members of the Fulani community who had allegedly been held at a military facility in Kwara State.
The recurring demand across such cases is not for security agencies to abandon operations against armed groups, but for those operations to be subjected to lawful oversight and accountability.
In the South-East, that challenge is particularly complex because residents have faced violence from multiple sources, including armed separatist groups, criminal networks and security operations.
Amnesty is now urging governors, federal justice authorities, police and other security agencies, lawyers, activists and community leaders to support a more rigorous accountability process.
For the relatives who spoke in Umuahia, the issue remains more immediate than institutional reform. They want to know what happened to their loved ones.
For the authorities, the challenge is to establish the facts through credible investigations, ensure that legitimate security operations remain effective and demonstrate that allegations of unlawful conduct will be taken seriously.
Also read: SERAP, Amnesty call Tinubu to drop Sowore charges
And for Amnesty, the South-East killings probe is ultimately about breaking a cycle in which violence is followed by silence rather than justice.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
