By Onyeanya Ebere Immaculata
An advocacy group, Salvation and Service (SnS), has condemned the escalating violence and human rights abuses in Nigeria’s South-East, urging urgent action to end impunity.
Citing a recent Amnesty International report that recorded 1,844 killings between January 2021 and June 2023, SnS described the situation as a breakdown of law and order, with atrocities committed by both state and non-state actors.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Prince Tim Nwaro, the group called the report, “A Decade of Impunity,” “repulsive, reprehensible and repugnant,” blaming government inaction and complicity for worsening insecurity.
According to SnS, the South-East has become a “killing field,” where security forces, armed groups, militias, vigilantes, and cult gangs engage in extra-judicial killings, torture, disappearances, and property destruction.
The group cited cases such as the killing of three sons of Mrs. Ukamaka Obasi of Ebonyi State by SARS operatives in Anambra (2012-2014) and the murder of a farming couple in Afikpo North in 2020, allegedly by state agents.
SnS further lamented mass displacement in Anambra and Imo, noting that even weddings and funerals are now held outside the region due to fear of abduction or assassination.
The group demanded that victims’ bodies be released to their families and urged authorities to halt the violence, stressing: “Enough is enough.”