The report indicates that in 29 Months (Jan 2021-May 2023), security forces and “allied militias” killed 900 unarmed citizens, wounded 700, and arrested 3,500 people, most of them innocent Christians in the Nigerian State.
The report compiled in May also indicates that 1,400 people were extorted, and 300 others forced to disappear.
Additionally, 1,200 civilian houses were burnt down across Imo State, displacing their 30,000 owners.
The Intersociety report shared with ACI Africa further indicates that attacks across Imo State also forced 500,000 citizens “in active age brackets” to flee from the State and have sought refuge in neighboring urban residences located in Umuahia, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Aba, Enugu, Onitsha, and Nnewi.
“The wanton destruction of lives and properties in 29 months gone by in Imo State under Governor Hope Uzodinwa is so shocking, chilling and alarming that many families in the affected local government communities no longer ancestrally give their loved ones who died naturally or unnaturally befitting burials and funerals,” authors of the report say in part.
They add, “Natural and slain dead bodies are mostly smuggled in at nights and secretly and indecently buried, after which their funerals are held or organized outside their ancestral homes including at urban residences.”
In the June 21 interview, Mr. Umeagbalasi told ACI Africa that families living in urban areas are now forced to work with morgue attendants who help with the smuggling of the bodies.
He added that the Imo Local Government Areas mostly affected or worst hit by the ongoing grisly and egregious destruction of defenseless lives and properties include Orsu, Orlu, Oru East, Oru West, Mbaitoli, Ngor-Okpala, Oguta, Ohaji/Egbema, Okigwe, Ideato North, Ideato South, Owerri Municipal, Owerri North, Owerri West, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ezinifite Mbaise, Onuimo, Njaba, Isu, Nwangele and Nkwere.
The Intersociety report highlights Fulani jihadists, counterfeit agitators, “Government Unknown Gunmen” or political killer squads, as perpetrators of the ongoing violence in Imo State. Others are private armies and militias as well as street violent criminals.
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
