South-East Nigeria military enlistment boycott linked to missing persons report

A joint report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociet) and the Ekwenche Research Institute indicates that youths in South-East Nigeria are increasingly rejecting military enlistment. The report attributes this reluctance to fears stemming from alleged extrajudicial killings and the random arrest of youths by security agents in the region.

Researchers state that over 6,000 families in the South-East are searching for relatives who went missing following alleged arrests or abductions by military personnel, police crack squads, and the State Security Service. The report claims that many of those detained were labeled as members or supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

Findings suggest that some missing persons were transferred to detention facilities in Northern Nigeria, such as the WAWA Military Cantonment in Niger State, without notification to their families. The organizations have called on the Defence Headquarters and other security agencies to provide transparency regarding the identities of persons arrested or killed during military operations.