By Ebere Inyama
(Imo) A new report by security consulting firm SB Morgen Intelligence, which claims that Nigeria’s South-East region recorded a total of 776 deaths from 332 attacks linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (I.P.O.B) between 2021 and 2025 has elicited reactions from residents in the south east.
According to the report, Imo and Anambra states account for nearly 70% of the total fatalities which resulted from the enforcement of the IPOB’s sit-at-home order.
“Southeast Nigeria faces a deepening security crisis with a sharp five-year rise in violence: 332 attacks and 776 deaths (2021-2025). Imo is the epicenter (130 incidents, 332 deaths), followed by Anambra (94 incidents, 202 deaths),” the report read in part.
“Violence surged in 2024 (133 incidents, 313 deaths), a threefold increase from 2023. No state is spared, but Imo and Anambra are worst hit, linked to IPOB/ESN activity and state responses”, the report added.
Indigenous People of Biafra (I.P.O.B) a group agitating for the independence of the southeastern region of Nigeria had in August, 2021, ordered a weekly work strike every Monday, often referred to as “sit–at–home” in all the states within the territories of the former Biafra nation in a bid to compel the Nigerian government to grant bail to detained I.P.O.B leader, Mr. Namdi Kanu. Terrorism charges hang over Kanu’s head.
Clashes between security operatives and some criminal elements enforcing the sit–at–home order reportedly led to the death of many and an estimated N7.6 trillion losses in four years
Press statement by Intersociety contradicts S.B.M Intelligence reports
Whereas S.B.M Intelligence reports that the Indigenous People of Biafra (I.P.O.B) are responsible for the killing of 776 innocent civilians and security operatives in the southeast between 2021 and 2025, a civil rights group, International Society for Civil Rights and Rule of Law (Intersociety), alleged that security operatives killed more than 32,300 unarmed civilians across the South-east between August 2015 and December 2024.
In a press briefing titled “Ocean of Innocent Blood Flowing in Eastern Nigeria,” held in Enugu on 23rd December, 2024, the Chairman of Intersociety, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, accused the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police, Department of State Services (DSS), and paramilitary forces of perpetrating the killings under the guise of combating IPOB/ESN and Biafra-related activities.
According to the report, “thousands were unlawfully detained and tortured, whereas over 6,000 were blindfolded or face-bagged and bundled at late night from the East and dumped uninvestigated in seven Northern States of Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, Kaduna, Zamfara and FCT (Abuja)”.
The report said “over 300 Igbo communities were raided within the same period, and 6,000 civilian houses razed, 180,000 displaced, one million frightened and forced to abandon their homes and flee”.
The report also notes that “N3trillion was corruptly seized and pocketed by security forces at roadblocks and gun points, while an estimated 2.7 million illicit small arms and light weapons have been proliferated in the region, including 400,000 in the hands of Fulani jihadists and allied groups.”
I.P.O.B reacts
Reacting to the report published by S.B.M Intelligence, the spokesperson for the IPOB, Mr. Emma Powerful rejected the findings by SB Morgan, describing them as inaccurate and unsubstantiated.
According to the group, it officially canceled the Monday sit-at-home directive in 2021, and its detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had previously disavowed any individuals or groups acting independently to enforce such directives.
“Our organization has made it clear that we do not support any form of violence or disruption of public life,” the group said.
“Since the commencement of the sit–at–home in the Southeast in August 2021, many people have lost their lives as a result of clashes with the gunmen who parade themselves as members of a task force enforcing the sit–at–home order and the fact remains that I.P.O.B is not the only group agitating for Biafra independence”, said a resident of Owerri, a Municipal county in Imo state, Mr. Benjamin Okeihe, to TruthNigeria.
“Biafran Liberation Army (a separatist group formed by Simon Ekpa) is often mistaken for the Eastern Security Network (ESN) earlier formed by Mr. Kanu for the purpose of driving away Fulani herdsmen from the forests and farmlands in the Southeast and that is why all the atrocities committed by Simon Ekpa and his group are blamed on ESN by many uninformed people”, he added.
Counterfeit Biafra Agitators
Whereas the IPOB have repeatedly denied involvement in the killing of security personnel and civilians in the southeast, a group who goes by the name “Biafran Liberation Army ( B.L.A)” have claimed responsibility for the killing of security personnel and the enforcement of the sit–at–home order in the southeast.
In an audio broadcast published on Facebook in November 2024, a repentant member of the BLA, who identified himself as Ikenga Uruagu, disclosed the identities of the people behind the BLA as well as their modus operandi.
According to him, the Biafran Liberation Army was formed by Simon Ekpa as the militant wing of the Biafran Republican Government in Exile (BRGIE) of which Ekpa claims to be the Prime Minister.
Ekpa Claimed Responsibility for Killings
In a post via his x handle on Monday 29 July, 2024, Ekpa, a dual citizen of Finland and Nigeria, announced that members of his group attacked and killed four policemen in Owerri because the Nigerian government has been forcing the Southeast to remain under Nigerian sovereignty.
Between 2020 and 2021, attacks on security personnel in the southeast reportedly claimed the lives of 128 Police men and 37 military personnel, according to a statement by then attorney general of Nigeria Abubakar Malami.
Hope for Southeast after Ekpa’s Arrest
With the arrest and detention of Simon Ekpa by the government of Finland, the Biafran Liberation Army has been completely cut off from its source of funding, according to a confessional statement made by Ifeanyi Okolienta, alias “Gentle the yahoo” on March 9, 2025.
Ebere Inyama is an Imo state-based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
