Global human rights body, the Amnesty International (AI), has asked the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government to unconditionally release a Southeast couple, Sunday and Calista Ifedi, who have been held in detention for over three years without access to their family and lawyers over alleged membership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The global human rights organisation, which made the demand in a statement posted on its Amnesty International Nigeria social media account, described the detention of the couple since they were arrested in their home in Enugu State on 23 November 2021, as “illegal.”
Amnesty International said, “Sunday and Calista Ifedi were abducted by Nigerian security agents from their home in Enugu on 23 November 2021, over alleged membership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
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“They are still detained incommunicado without access to family or lawyers.
“This manner of dentition is unlawful and puts the couple at the risk of torture and other ill treatment.
“Amnesty International urges the Nigerian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release them or charge them to court.”
The organisation noted that since 2016, it had documented hundreds of cases of unlawful detention in the South-East region of Nigeria, as well as many cases of disappearance of persons after arrest by security forces.
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The global human rights organisation stressed, “This is an assault on the rule of law.”
SaharaReporters had reported that human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, had condemned the prolonged detention of the Igbo couple at Wawa Barracks in Niger State since 2021 without trial.
The couple was accused of being members of the IPOB, a group advocating for the restoration of the Republic of Biafra.
The incident is part of a larger pattern of enforced disappearances and human rights abuses in Nigeria, particularly in the South-East region.
According to reports, hundreds of South-East residents, including elderly parents, young men, and women, have been abducted by Nigerian security forces, disappearing without a trace.
The relatives of the victims are left uncertain about their status, whereabouts, or even whether they are still alive.
Sowore, former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), lamented that there were several other Nigerians, especially from the Southeast, abandoned and rottening away in military barracks over Nigeria’s “insatiable need for National Unity”.
Reports have emerged of Nigerian security agencies, particularly the military and Department of State Services (DSS), carrying out enforced disappearances in the Southeast region.
The clandestine operations aim to suppress the agitation for Biafra restoration, which has escalated tensions in the region.
The situation has deteriorated into a war-like zone, with unknown gunmen targeting security checkpoints and formations, while the Nigerian Army has been accused of burning communities.
The enforced disappearances have raised concerns about human rights violations, with Amnesty International documenting several cases of mass arrests, torture, extortion, and extrajudicial executions by law enforcement officers responding to IPOB activities in the South-East and South-West.
Families of victims have been left in anguish, waiting for news of their loved ones.
