6,000 South-East Families Still Searching for Missing Relatives — Intersociety, US Research Institute

By Tony Okafor, Awka

More than 6,000 families in the South-East are still searching for their sons, daughters and other relatives who allegedly disappeared after being taken into the custody of the Nigerian military and other security agencies between January 2021 and July 2026.

This is according to a joint report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) and the United States-based Ekwenche Research Institute and Organisation.

The organisations said the development had contributed to growing reluctance among families in the region to allow their children of military recruitment age to enlist in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

The 31-page report, dated Sunday, August 9, 2026, and released from Enugu, alleged that the whereabouts of thousands of civilians taken from different parts of the South-East remained unknown to their families and lawyers.

The researchers claimed that about 70 per cent of the more than 6,000 persons allegedly missing since January 2021 were taken by military personnel, while the remaining cases were attributed to police crack squads and the State Security Service.

The organisations said earlier investigations had also indicated that about 5,000 other South-East civilians had remained untraced after alleged arrests or abductions between August 2015 and December 2019.

If the two sets of figures are combined, the report said, as many as 11,000 South-East civilians could have disappeared in the hands of security agencies over the period under review.

The organisations stressed that the figures were based on their research, investigations, collected statistics and case studies.

They alleged that some of the missing persons were transferred to detention facilities in Northern Nigeria, including the WAWA Military Cantonment in Niger State, allegedly without their families being informed of their whereabouts or being granted access to them.

The report further alleged that military operations in the South-East had resulted in mass arrests and disappearances of civilians who were subsequently labelled as members or supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

It cited what it described as Defence Headquarters’ periodic reports on military operations in the South-East, including Operation Udoka, and questioned the figures of persons described by the military as IPOB combatants killed or arrested.

The organisations said the alleged disappearances had created a climate of fear among families and had affected attitudes towards military recruitment.

“It is in totality of the above that tens of thousands of Igbo Land South-East families withdraw from giving their beloved sons and daughters of military recruitment age and academic and professional qualifications permission to be enlisted into the Nigerian Armed Forces,” the report stated.

The report also raised concerns over alleged detention practices and the treatment of detainees at the WAWA Military Cantonment and other facilities in Northern Nigeria.

It cited individual cases, including that of Ozioma Elizabeth Onyeaka, whom it said was allegedly arrested by an Army patrol team around Nsugbe, near Onitsha, in 2020 and subsequently taken to WAWA Cantonment.

According to the report, Onyeaka was still facing proceedings in 2026 after spending more than five years in detention.

The organisations also listed several persons whom they said had been detained or jailed after controversial terrorism proceedings, including Chidiebere Luke Echefu, Chidiebere Christian Ugwu, Nnabuike Romanus Erikeigwe, Ferdinand Uchenna Ede, Azoribe Samuel Onu, Ndukwe Kalu Iroha, Okolo Godwin Ejiofor and Abel Onyekachi Michael.

Six other detainees — David Ogbonna, Emmanuel Ariwuzo, Uchenna Nwaoha, Richard Ngonadi, Vincent Emeka Ibe and Victor Chidi — were also named in the report as persons allegedly subjected to controversial trials in 2024.

The report further alleged that eight men travelling from Abuja to the South-East with lawyer Barrister Awoke Pius were abducted by SSS operatives in Lokoja in July 2021 and taken to WAWA Cantonment.

It said Awoke, who was later released, reported that eight persons arrested with him had not been traced alive, naming them as Fortune Okezie, Chinedu Nwoba, Eze Joseph, David Ogbonnaya, Ajah Joseph, Igwe Johnson, Kenneth Ojima and Wisdom Ezika Nwamba.

Beyond the alleged military-related disappearances, the report painted a wider picture of insecurity in the South-East, alleging that communities in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi states had suffered attacks, abductions and displacement.

It singled out Ezeagu, Isi-Uzo and Uzo-Uwani in Enugu State for particular attention, alleging that several communities had been affected by attacks attributed by the organisations to jihadist Fulani herdsmen.

In Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area, the report alleged that 14 churches had been destroyed and at least 117 Christian worshippers killed since March 2021.

It also claimed that several communities in Uzo-Uwani had been displaced and turned into ghost towns and internally displaced persons’ camps.

At the national level, the report claimed that 299 Christians were killed and 213 abducted by what it described as Islamic jihadists in July 2026 alone.

The organisations said they were calling for independent international investigations into alleged human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other violations in the South-East.

They specifically called for investigations by relevant United Nations human rights and humanitarian bodies and demanded that such investigations be conducted independently of Nigerian government interference.

They also called for the identities and whereabouts of persons allegedly arrested or abducted by security agencies to be made public.

The report urged the Defence Headquarters and other security agencies to provide details of persons arrested or killed during military operations, including their identities, locations of detention, circumstances of arrest and, where applicable, circumstances surrounding their deaths.

The organisations also called for independent judicial commissions of inquiry in the South-East to investigate alleged disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other abuses dating back to 2015.

The joint report was signed on behalf of Intersociety by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Lead Researcher and Head of Intersociety Nigeria; Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam, Head, Department of Campaign and Publicity; and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head, Department of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

On behalf of the Ekwenche Research Institute and Organisation, Chicago, it was signed by Prof. Justin Akujieze, President and Chairman of the Board; Mazi Luke Nwannunu, Secretary and Chair, Finance Committee; and Rev. Father Emeka Nwachukwu, Chair, Education and Spirituality Committee.

However, the allegations contained in the report could not be independently verified from the material accompanying the document, and the report’s attribution of responsibility to state and non-state actors represents the position of the two organisations.