RULAAC In collaboration with Other CSOs Demand Security and Law Enforcement Agencies To Probe Insecurity in South-East Nigeria

RULAAC, other CSOs express profound concern over the continued and escalating attacks by armed bandit herdsmen on our communities across the five southeastern states of Nigeria (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo). These attacks are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of violence and impunity that has gone largely unaddressed by the Nigerian state and its security apparatus.

While law enforcement agencies routinely undertake swift and heavily armed operations against alleged IPOB/ESN camps, we observe with alarm the contrasting inertia with which they respond or fail to respond to the persistent and violent incursions by armed herdsmen. Communities suffer losses of lives, destruction of farmlands, and displacement, with little or no meaningful state intervention.

A statement jointly signed by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre and seven others has further demanded the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies to immediately prioritise the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of perpetrators of herdsmen-related violence in the South-East.

For instance, in Abia State, communities in Isuikwuato, Umunneochi, and Obingwa LGAs have repeatedly decried attacks, kidnappings, and farm destruction by suspected herdsmen, with little or no response from law enforcement. In Anambra State, parts of Ayamelum and Orumba North LGAs continue to face herdsmen-related violence, forcing farmers to abandon their lands.

In Ebonyi State, the Amegu Village, Nkalaha community in Ishielu LGA, has witnessed killings and deadly attacks by suspected Fulani herders. In Enugu State, recent invasions in Eha-Amufu and Uzo-Uwani have left scores dead and displaced, with survivors alleging complete abandonment by security forces. In Imo State, several incidents of farmland destruction and attacks by suspected herders have been reported in the Okigwe zone, yet no significant arrests or prosecutions have been made. Also, for the second time within a month, suspected Fulani herdsmen have laid siege on the Owerri-NgorOkpala-Aba road, killed people, and kidnapped passengers in public commercial vehicles.

The federal government’s continued silence on these concerns, including its failure to proscribe or designate armed herdsmen as terrorists under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, despite their widely documented acts of terror, which further undermines public confidence in state institutions. 

To this end, the CSOs demand that the federal and state governments and the security agencies must ensure the equitable enforcement of all extant criminal laws against any individual or group, regardless of ethnicity or affiliation, found culpable of violence, destruction, or displacement.

We call on the Federal Government to halt cases of military dehumanization of citizens in the South-East region and address reported allegations of misconduct by state agents, including extortion and abuse of human rights at checkpoints, brutality, and harassment at these checkpoints, which remain largely uninvestigated, even when widely reported in mainstream and social media.