Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (INTERSOCIETY) has raised the alarm over an alleged unbridled spate of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, hateful profiling and false labelling and incarceration of mostly innocent citizens of the South-East geopolitical region of the country.
This was contained in a recent investigative report released by the group and signed by its Board Chairman and Chief Criminologist, Emeka Umeagbalasi and two others.
The group states that of all the South-East states, Imo state was worse hit by the military action in the region.
According to the report which was also made available to our correspondent electronically, the activities of the security forces for a period covering January to May 31st 2021, have allegedly led to no fewer than 170 open killings, secret abductions and permanent disappearance or feared unlawful execution in custody of no fewer than 550 persons.
The report noted that, “most of the arrested or abducted are presently held in different conventional cells and secret dungeons located within and outside the East and among those outside the East are Makurdi Prisons in Benue State where over 300 were recently found to have been transferred and kept. Others are conventional and unconventional military, police and SSS detention facilities in Abuja, Niger State and other undisclosed locations in the North.
“They are also in Owerri, Awka, Port Harcourt and Abakiliki State CIDs and Prison facilities such as Owerri Prisons holding over 130 including 107 remanded days ago. Shockingly, in the past one week or Monday 24th to Sunday 30th May 2021, not less than 30 open and secret killings by soldiers and police have taken place with most recorded in Imo State where scores of corpses have been freshly traced to the mortuaries of the Government Medical Centres.
“The slain are mostly victims of extra-judicial killings including innocent citizens ‘killed after the act’ around crime scenes and falsely labeled for gallantry. The findings above cover the first five months of 2021 or January to May 2021.
Police authorities in Imo state have denied the findings in the report describing them as largely unfounded.
But Intersociety maintains that Nigeria’s security forces are presently rated as one of the worst in the world in terms of professionalism, secularity and adherence to human rights principles in their operations.
The report detailed the names of victims, their particulars and circumstances of their arrest, abduction or extrajudicial killing, as the case may be.
Editor’s Note: This photo is for illustrative purpose
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