More than 6,000 families in Nigeria’s South-East are still searching for sons and daughters who disappeared between January 2021 and July 2026, with many allegedly last seen in the custody of the Nigerian military, according to a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) and the United States-based Ekwenche Research Institute.
The organizations said the alleged disappearances had reached a point where many Igbo Christian parents were reluctant to allow their children to enlist in the Nigerian Armed Forces.
In a joint report released in Enugu on Sunday, Intersociety said its researchers found that at least 6,000 South-East families had been unable to establish whether missing relatives were alive or dead.
The organization said the missing people were largely unarmed civilians and alleged that the Nigerian military, police, and intelligence agencies were responsible for a significant proportion of the disappearances.
“Our Researchers and Investigators further made findings indicating that no fewer 6000 unarmed Igbo Land South-East Judeo-Christian civilians have gone missing in a period covering January 2021 to July 2026,” the report said.
It added that an earlier investigation had identified about 5,000 others who allegedly disappeared between August 2015 and December 2019.
Taken together, Intersociety said, the figures suggested that no fewer than 11,000 South-East Judeo-Christian civilians may have disappeared over the period covered by its investigations.
The organization said the alleged disappearances involved the military as well as the State Security Service, Office of the National Security Adviser, National Counter Terrorism Center, and various Nigeria Police Force units.
According to the report, about 70 percent of those who disappeared since January 2021 were allegedly last seen in military custody, while the police and State Security Service accounted for an estimated 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Intersociety alleged that some of those detained in the South-East were transferred hundreds of kilometers away to military and other detention facilities in northern Nigeria, particularly the Wawa Military Cantonment in Niger State.
It described the alleged practice as involving “false labeling, mass and class criminalization, ethno-religious profiling” and other abuses.
Parents ‘withdrawal of consent for military recruitment
Intersociety said the alleged treatment of civilians had created a deep distrust of the military among families in the region.
The organization claimed that “tens of thousands of Igbo Land South-East families withdraw from giving their beloved sons and daughters permission to enlist in the armed forces.
It said the concern was not about the military’s constitutional role in national security but about the manner in which security operations were allegedly conducted.
“We also make bold to say that the universal powers of the Nigerian military and other security and intelligence agencies to perform their sworn duties are not our problem but crude policies, processes, and procedures adopted,” the report said.
Intersociety alleged that civilians arrested alive had in some cases subsequently been killed in custody, describing this as extrajudicial killing and a violation of fundamental rights.
The report said military and other security agencies had allegedly relied on false labeling, hurried conclusions, mass criminalization, disputed intelligence, and ethnic and religious profiling.
It claimed that 400 South-East Judeo-Christian civilians had been abducted by the military in the first seven months of 2026 and remained unaccounted for.
The organization also alleged that some detainees were subjected to secret trials at Wawa Military Cantonment and elsewhere.
It cited cases in which people from the South-East were allegedly labelled as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and subjected to what it described as flawed proceedings.
Wawa detention claims
Intersociety devoted a substantial part of its report to alleged abuses at Wawa Military Cantonment in Niger State.
The organization said some South-East civilians had been held there for years without access to their families, lawyers, or independent medical personnel.
It is alleged that many detainees died in custody, while others were secretly tried, convicted, and imprisoned.
“99.9% of them did not have access to their families and independently chosen attorneys or medical doctors and medical facilities,” the report said.
It further claimed that some survivors had been subjected to torture and had little or no knowledge of the offenses allegedly brought against them.
The report cited the case of Ozioma Elizabeth Onyeaka, whom it said disappeared in Anambra State in 2020 and was later traced to Wawa Military Cantonment.
According to Intersociety, Onyeaka had spent more than five years in detention and was among people brought to Abuja in June 2026 for what the organization described as secret terrorism trials.
The organization said human rights lawyers who spoke to it alleged that some detainees were pressured to plead guilty to membership of IPOB.
Intersociety also cited the case of Barrister Awoke Pius and eight others, who it said were abducted by State Security Service operatives in July 2021 while traveling from Abuja to the South-East.
The organization quoted Awoke, after his release in 2024, as saying that “many Igbo civilian detainees abducted from the East have died inside WAWA Military Cantonment” and that eight people arrested with him had “never been located alive”.
7,000 Christians killed in South-East since 2016, report says
The report also alleged that the security crisis in the South-East extends beyond state actors to armed non-state groups.
Intersociety said an estimated 7,000 Judeo-Christians had been killed in the region since April 2016 in attacks it attributed largely to what it described as jihadist Fulani herdsmen.
It said about 200 others were allegedly ambushed, abducted, and killed on roads and in forests between January and July 2026.
“Our Researchers and Investigators also made findings that an estimated 7,000 Judeo-Christian lives have been lost since April 2016,” the organization said.
Intersociety said the figure represented an estimated average of about 700 deaths each year since the April 2016 attack on Ukpabi-Nimbo in Enugu State.
It is alleged that about 70 percent of the deaths occurred through “secret killings” involving ambushes and abductions of travelers, while the remainder resulted from open attacks on homes, farms, and settlements.
The organization said at least 20 rural communities across Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states were facing varying degrees of alleged jihadist Fulani herdsmen attacks.
It identified Ezeagu, Isi-Uzo, Uzo-Uwani, and Nkanu East in Enugu State as among the worst-affected areas.
Eha-Amufu and Ezeagu
Eha-Amufu and Ezeagu feature prominently in Intersociety’s assessment of the South-East crisis.
The organization alleged that communities in Eha-Amufu and neighboring parts of Isi-Uzo had been repeatedly attacked and displaced.
It claimed that 14 churches — 12 Anglican and two Catholic — had been destroyed in the area since March 2021, while at least 117 worshippers were allegedly killed.
Intersociety said eight of the victims were buried in one church compound.
It also alleged that at least 16 communities or villages in Isi-Uzo had been sacked since 2022, forcing residents to flee their homes.
The report quoted religious and social activist Evangelist Ebube Joseph, who, it said, had visited an internally displaced persons’ camp in the area.
According to the report, Joseph said: “Attacks by Fulani Herdsmen have forced residents of 16 communities or villages to flee their homes,” leaving residents without homes, businesses, and livelihoods.
Intersociety accused the Enugu State Government, police and military authorities of failing to protect the affected communities and of allegedly shifting responsibility for attacks to IPOB and the Eastern Security Network.
It claimed that youths who spoke publicly about attacks were instead arrested and detained.
The organization alleged that some evidence of attacks was destroyed during security operations, saying photographs and videos linking suspected attackers to incidents were allegedly removed or destroyed.
It described the alleged pattern as a combination of political, structural, cultural and physical violence.
299 Christians killed in July
Intersociety also released figures for attacks it attributed to Islamic jihadists across Nigeria in July 2026.
The organization said at least 299 Christians were killed and 213 abducted during the month.
It said 150 mostly indigenous Hausa Muslims were also killed.
At least six churches were allegedly attacked, while two Catholic seminarians were abducted in Enugu and Kogi states. The organization also reported the killing of a Catholic priest and the killing or abduction of four Pentecostal pastors.
“According to the summary of statistics, tracked, collected and archived by our Researchers and Investigators,” the report said, at least 299 Christians were killed in states including Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Adamawa, Niger, and Taraba.
Benue recorded the highest number of reported Christian deaths, with 65 killed and 30 abducted, according to the organization.
Southern Kaduna followed with 58 deaths and 70 abductions, while Plateau recorded 55 deaths and at least 10 abductions.
Adamawa recorded 35 deaths and Niger 30, while Southern Kebbi recorded six deaths and 18 abductions.
The organization reported 20 Christian abductions each in Southern Borno, Kogi, and Edo, while at least 40 Christian deaths were attributed to jihadist attacks in other parts of Nigeria, including the South-East.
Intersociety said the figures included what it called “dark figures of crime”, referring to cases it believes were not captured in available official statistics.
It is estimated that jihadist Fulani herdsmen and jihadist Fulani bandits accounted for at least 70 percent of the reported culpability.
Based on its figures, the organization calculated an average of 10 Christian deaths and seven Christian abductions every day in July.
Calls for an international investigation
Intersociety and Ekwenche called for international investigations into what they described as widespread ethno-religious persecution and violence in the South-East.
They called for a review of military, police, and intelligence operations in the region since 2015, particularly the use of force against civilians and the treatment of people arrested during security operations.
The organizations also called for investigations to be conducted independently of Nigerian government influence.
They said the proposed inquiries should examine alleged extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, ethnic and religious profiling, and the alleged transfer of civilian detainees from the South-East to distant detention facilities.
Intersociety said its findings indicated a security crisis that could no longer be understood solely in terms of separatist groups’ activities or conventional criminality.
According to the organization, “65 Political/Armed State Actor Atrocity-Crimes and Armed Non-State Actor Violent Crimes” in the South-East had been wrongly attributed to IPOB and the Eastern Security Network.
It argued that the alleged violence had created a cycle in which communities were attacked, residents disappeared, and responsibility was subsequently disputed or shifted.
