Amnesty International Claims Evidence of Extrajudicial Killings in Nigeria’s South-East

Amnesty International says it has gathered what it calls concrete evidence — including names and addresses — of individuals allegedly killed extrajudicially by the Nigerian military in the country’s South-East.

“We have our evidence and we are very glad to present those evidence. We are always in touch with families of victims and believe there is a need to do a soul-searching. Let us sit down, look at those cases, find out who did what and when, and make sure that the full weight of the law comes in to ensure justice for the victims,” said Amnesty International Nigeria’s Country Director, Isa Sanusi, during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.

The rights group’s latest report, titled ‘A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria’, accuses the Nigerian police, military, the regional security outfit Ebube Agu, and non-state actors of widespread human rights violations. It documents over 1,844 deaths between January 2021 and June 2023, alongside cases of torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses.

However, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye, rejected the findings, maintaining that the Nigerian military does not carry out extrajudicial killings in the South-East or anywhere else in the country. He said operations in the region have instead degraded the capacity of criminal elements.

Sanusi dismissed suggestions by the Defence Headquarters that Amnesty International was deliberately targeting the armed forces. “I think what the defence spokesperson said is completely wrong. In the report, we also mentioned places where military men were executed or their barracks attacked. It is not about consistency in condemning the military; what we are doing is the honest thing, saying that we have cases,” he stated.

According to Sanusi, many of the alleged unlawful killings occurred during operations in areas suspected of harbouring members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). In some instances, he said, people were taken from their homes and never seen again.

“In this investigation, we interviewed 100 people, 95 of them face-to-face in the South-East. Before releasing the report, we sent the military a letter informing them of the allegations and requesting any information that could help us understand how their operations affect human rights. We received no response,” Sanusi added.

He stressed that Amnesty International has no agenda against the armed forces. “Our records include victims killed not only by the military, but also by the police and the Ebube Agu, which was set up by some governors to address insecurity but has instead become a tool of abuse,” he said.