Amnesty International disclosed this at an event to honour the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance on Wednesday in Abuja.
Speaking against the backdrop of the growing conflicts in Nigeria, the organisation’s Country Director, Isa Sanusi, attributed rising enforced disappearances to conflicts in the North-Central, South-East, and nearly all other regions of the country.
Sanusi said peace in Nigeria depended on finding those who had gone missing and reuniting them with their families.
He also urged the government to set up a database for missing people in ensuring accountability and justice.
Sanusi said, “The situation is not good as far as enforced disappearance is concerned; we have been witnessing an increasing number of conflicts across Nigeria, in the North-Central, South-East and almost all parts of Nigeria and these conflicts are increasing the volume of enforced disappearance.
“In Borno State alone, we have partner organisations that have recorded 23,000 people, and some of them as far back as nine years. So, that is a very big problem and if we want to establish peace and end this conflict, we have to start with making sure that all these issues are addressed and resolved, so that we will be able to move forward. We cannot have peace without making sure that all these people who have been missing are found and reunited with their families.”
He affirmed that the organisation would keep up the fight and focus on the problems of the nation’s missing individuals.
“We are calling on the Nigerian government to establish a register that will provide the beginning for justice and accountability. If these people are alive, where are they? Why were they arrested and held for more than five years and some for 14 years? These are all illegitimate things and they have to be addressed. We have to make sure that our country is run based on the rule of law,” he said.
Recounting her experience, Merit Ifedi, whose parents, Sunday Ifedi and Calista Ifedi, were allegedly taken by security agents from their home in Enugu on November 23, 2021 over alleged membership in the Indigenous People of Biafra, bemoaned that she was compelled to drop out of school because her parents were held secretly so as to be able to care for the rest of her family.
“I was deprived of contact with my parents for over 644 days due to their forced disappearance. Their location has been a source of tremendous confusion ever since they were picked up in 2021,” she said.
