Amnesty International has urged the Federal Government to take decisive steps to halt the recurring killings in Nigeria’s South-East.
The Country Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, made the call on Thursday, September 4, during the relaunch of its report A decade of impunity: Attacks and unlawful killings in South-East Nigeria, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
Amnesty had earlier revealed that no fewer than 1,844 people were killed in the region between January 2021 and June 2023.
The group accused Nigerian authorities of allowing a “free-for-all reign of impunity” in which “numerous state and non-state actors have committed serious human rights violations,” leaving communities devastated.
Sanusi said the silence of South-East governors to Amnesty’s enquiries showed a lack of political will to end the carnage.
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“That means to us that the government is not taking the matter seriously, because if they were taking it seriously, there is no way they would ignore any communication about it,” he said.
He added, “The fact that we wrote not only to the state governments, but also to the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police, and all security agencies, but they kept quiet and refused to respond. Definitely, that shows that they are not going to respond to these issues.”
Sanusi urged authorities to conduct thorough investigations and ensure accountability.
“The Nigerian authorities must uphold their constitutional and international human rights obligations by guaranteeing, protecting, and ensuring the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty, security, and safety of the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered a review of Amnesty’s report, while the Defence Headquarters dismissed claims of extrajudicial killings by troops.