IPOB members in a demonstration

International rights group, Amnesty International said Nigerian security forces, led by the military have killed at least 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in the south east of the country between August 2015 and August 2016.

“Analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eye witness testimonies relating to demonstrations and other gatherings between August 2015 and August 2016 consistently shows that the military fired live ammunition with little or no warning to disperse crowds.

“It also finds evidence of mass extrajudicial executions by security forces, including at least 60 people shot dead in the space of two days in connection with events to mark Biafra Remembrance Day,” Amnesty International said in a 60 page report published on Thursday.

“This deadly repression of pro-Biafra activists is further stoking tensions in the south east of Nigeria. This reckless and trigger-happy approach to crowd control has caused at least 150 deaths and we fear the actual total might be far higher,” said Makmid Kamara, Interim Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The rights group said its investigations revealed that the largest number of pro-Biafra activists were killed on Biafra Remembrance Day on 30 May 2016 when an estimated 1,000 IPOB members and supporters gathered for a rally in Onitsha, Anambra State.

The night before the rally, AI claimed,  the security forces raided homes and a church where IPOB members were sleeping.

“On Remembrance Day itself, the security forces shot people in several locations. Amnesty International has not been able to verify the exact number of extrajudicial executions, but estimates that at least 60 people were killed and 70 injured in these two days. The real number is likely to be higher,” the rights group said.

Amnesty International said it also reviewed videos of a ‘peaceful’ gathering of IPOB members and supporters at Aba National High School on 9 February 2016.

“The Nigerian military surrounded the group and then fired live ammunition at them without any prior warning.

According to eyewitnesses and local human rights activists, many of the protesters at Aba were rounded up and taken away by the military.

“On 13 February 13 corpses, including those of men known to have been taken by the military, were discovered in a pit near the Aba highway.

“It is chilling to see how these soldiers gunned down peaceful IPOB members. The video evidence shows that this was a military operation with intent to kill and injure,” said Makmid Kamara.

AI said its shared the key findings of this report with the Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Interior, Inspector General of Police and the Director-General of the state Security Services on 30 September, 2016.

The right group said while it received responses from the Attorney General and Inspector General of Police, they  neither answered the questions raised in the report.

IPOB emerged in 2012 and campaigns for an Independent Biafran state.

Almost fifty years ago, an attempt to establish Biafra state led to a civil war from 1967 to 1970.

Since August 2015, there has been a series of protests, marches and gatherings by members and supporters of IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) who have been seeking the creation of a Biafran state.

Tensions increased further following the arrest of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu on 14 October 2015. Kanu is being detained on orders of a Nigerian court.