A civil society organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has attributed the reluctance of some youths in the South-East to enlist in the Nigerian Armed Forces to alleged arbitrary arrests, disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the region.
The group made the claim in a statement issued by its Chairman, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi, alongside Prof. Justin Akujieze, President and Chairman of the Board of Ekwenche Research Institute, Chicago.
According to Intersociety, more than 6,000 families in the South-East are still searching for relatives who allegedly disappeared after being arrested by security agencies.
The organisation alleged that some persons arrested during security operations were subsequently accused of being members or supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
It said the situation had created fear among families and contributed to growing reluctance to give their children of military recruitment age permission to join the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Intersociety further alleged that earlier investigations had documented about 5,000 South-East residents who remained unaccounted for following alleged arrests or abductions between August 2015 and December 2019.
The group claimed that some of the missing persons were transferred to detention facilities outside the South-East, including the Wawa Military Cantonment in Niger State, without their families being informed of their whereabouts.
It also alleged that a significant proportion of the more than 6,000 persons reportedly missing since January 2021 were taken by military personnel, while other cases were allegedly linked to police crack squads and the Department of State Services.
Intersociety said the alleged disappearances and reports of extrajudicial killings had deepened mistrust between affected communities and security agencies.
The organisation called on the Defence Headquarters and other security agencies to publish details of persons arrested or killed during military operations, including their identities, places of detention, circumstances surrounding their arrests and, where applicable, details of their deaths.
It also demanded the establishment of independent judicial commissions of inquiry in the South-East to investigate alleged disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses dating back to 2015.
The group maintained that addressing the allegations and providing families with information about missing relatives would be critical to rebuilding public confidence in security institutions and encouraging greater participation in national security initiatives.
The allegations contained in the statement could not be independently verified at the time of filing this report.
