AMNESTY International says it possesses concrete evidence including names and addresses of individuals allegedly killed extrajudicially by the Nigerian military in the South-East geopolitical zone of the country.
“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 the Country Director for Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday.
In its latest report, ‘A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria’, the group accused the Nigerian police, military, the regional security outfit Ebube Agu, and non-state actors of widespread human rights abuses in the region.
It documents over 1,844 deaths between January 2021 and June 2023, alongside cases of torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and other violations.
However, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye, had rejected Amnesty’s findings, insisting that the military does not engage in extrajudicial killings in the South-East or anywhere in Nigeria. He said security operations in the zone have reduced the capacity of criminal elements.
Sanusi dismissed claims by the Defence Headquarters that the organisation was consistently targeting the military.
“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.
The group’s country director said that many of the extra-judicial 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 cases, individuals were allegedly picked up from their homes and never seen again, he said.
He further revealed that Amnesty interviewed 100 people, mostly face-to-face in the South-East, for its report, and wrote to the military about the allegations, but reportedly got no response, stressing that they have nothing against the military.
“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 stated.
Amnesty noted that the rights organisation “have nothing against the military.” “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.
