Group condemns frequent killings, abductions in S-East

By Innocent Anaba

A non-governmental and advocacy group, Salvation and Service, SnS, has decried the human rights violations and extra-judicial killing of innocent people by state and non-state actors in the South-East.

The group, while reacting to a recent report by Amnesty International that at least 1,844 people were killed between January 2021 and June 2023 in the South East, said it seems life has lost its sanctity in the area.

A statement by Prince Tim Nwaro, General Secretary of SnS said: “The report by Amnesty International tagged: ‘A Decade of Impunity’ is repulsive, reprehensible and repugnant. It is unfortunate that the South East has become a killing field because of government’s failure or refusal to address the security crises in the region. In fact, government is stoking the embers of insecurity through some its actions or lack of it.

“As captured in ‘A Decade of Impunity,’ the South East has, over the years, 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, vigilantes, cult gangs and security forces.

“Many residents have stopped travelling to their hometowns for fear of being killed or abducted. Some traditional events such as weddings and funerals are increasingly held outside South East because of arrest or killing by government forces in the name of looking for members of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, agitating for an independent Biafra.

“Many families have witnessed trauma of gargantuan proportions. For instance, three sons of Mrs. Ukamaka Obasi, a native of Onueke in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, were murdered in cold blood within a space of three years, by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Anambra State Headquarters, Awkuzu. The operatives rendered her childless following their extra-judicial killing between 2012 and 2014. They were accused of MASSOB membership and murdered.

“In October 2020, a couple, Mr. Oko Onya and Mrs. Ngozi Onya, was killed in their farm in Amuzu village, Nkpoghoro community, in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of the state by suspected state actors.

“In the light of sustained military attacks, bombing of communities, killing of defenceless civilians and youths, many communities, particularly in Anambra and Imo states have been deserted by residents who fled and abandoned their homestead.

“We, therefore, condemn in the strongest terms the wanton killings and destruction of property in the South East. We also urge authorities to release bodies of those killed to their families for befitting burial. Enough is enough.”

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