Salvation and Service (SnS), a non-governmental advocacy group, has condemned the persistent killings, abductions, and human rights abuses in Nigeria’s South-East, describing the region as a “killing field” due to government failure to address insecurity.
Reacting to Amnesty International’s recent report titled “A Decade of Impunity”, which revealed that at least 1,844 people were killed in the South-East between January 2021 and June 2023, the group said life in the region has lost its sanctity.
In a statement signed by Prince Tim Nwaro, General Secretary of SnS, the group described the findings as “repulsive, reprehensible and repugnant,” accusing both state and non-state actors of worsening the crisis.
“Over the years, the South-East has witnessed blood-chilling incidents of extra-judicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and destruction of property carried out by armed groups, state-backed militias, cult gangs, vigilantes, and security forces,” the statement noted.
SnS further highlighted cases of families torn apart by violence. One such instance was that of Mrs. Ukamaka Obasi from Ebonyi State, whose three sons were allegedly murdered between 2012 and 2014 by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Awkuzu, Anambra State. Similarly, soldiers reportedly invaded Abala Umuotu village in Abia State in January 2018, killing community leader Elder Victor Ogbonna and detaining his relative, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The group also recalled the October 2020 killing of a farming couple, Mr. and Mrs. Onya, in Afikpo North, Ebonyi State, allegedly by state actors. These incidents, SnS said, have forced residents to flee their homes, with weddings, funerals, and other cultural events increasingly held outside the region for fear of attacks.
Condemning the worsening insecurity, SnS urged the Nigerian government to release the bodies of victims to their families for proper burial and to stop what it described as “wanton killings and destruction of property.”
“Enough is enough,” the group declared, calling for urgent action to restore peace and security in the South-East.
