By Okechukwu Nwanguma
The Southeast region of Nigeria – once known for peace, enterprise, and learning – is today in turmoil. Markets that once buzzed with trade are shuttered, farms deserted, and communities silenced by fear.
What was once Nigeria’s most industrious zone is sliding toward a human and developmental catastrophe.
A recent 68-page report released by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), in partnership with the Action Group on Free Civic Space, paints a disturbing picture. The report, titled “Unveiling the Roots of Insecurity, Healing the Wounds of Human Rights Violations in the South East – A Path Towards Peace, Open Democratic Space and a Prosperous Future,” finds that insecurity in the region is not merely the product of agitation or criminal violence. It is the cumulative outcome of decades of irresponsible political leadership, state repression, and criminalised governance.
At the presentation of the report, RULAAC observed that the Southeast’s political class has, for years, operated as a criminal cabal – unscrupulous, unpatriotic, and self-serving. Many so-called leaders in the region are in politics not to serve, but to loot. They exploit ethnic sentiments and the rhetoric of marginalisation for personal gain while abandoning the people to poverty, fear, and neglect.
This collapse of moral and political leadership has created a vacuum – one filled by armed groups, cult gangs, and criminal networks operating under the guise of political agitation.
Beyond IPOB: The Real Drivers of Insecurity
To understand the insecurity in the Southeast, we must move beyond the simplistic narrative that blames everything on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The RULAAC report and findings by the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission (TJPC), chaired by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, converge on a key reality: the region’s insecurity is multi-layered l – political, criminal, and institutional.
Before IPOB, groups like MASSOB led largely peaceful campaigns for self-determination. But successive governments responded with force rather than dialogue. The notorious Ezu River massacre and other brutal crackdowns radicalized many youths and eroded faith in lawful dissent. When IPOB emerged in 2012, its initial agitation was largely peaceful, but the state again chose bullets over engagement. The result was predictable – repression bred militancy.
Yet, today’s violence in the Southeast goes far beyond IPOB. Cultism, political thuggery, and organised crime – often sponsored or shielded by politicians – have become dominant drivers of insecurity. From Orlu to Ihiala, from Obosi to Nsukka, killings and kidnappings are often the handiwork of criminal networks and local political actors, not ideological separatists.
By reducing every incident to “IPOB,” security agencies and political leaders deflect attention from their own complicity and abdicate responsibility.
Criminal Politics and Irresponsible Leadership
At the heart of the crisis is the phenomenon of criminal politics – a toxic alliance between politicians, cult groups, and rogue security actors. Elections in the Southeast have become contests of violence and bribery, not service or ideas. Politicians arm thugs during campaigns, who later transform into kidnapping and extortion gangs.
Public funds meant for development are looted while unemployed youths are left to fester in hopelessness. As RULAAC noted, “The political leadership in the Southeast is at best a criminal cabal – unconscionably corrupt and self-centred.”
The consequences are evident. Poverty deepens, violence thrives, and the same corrupt politicians call for more soldiers and more guns, further militarizing a broken society.
Repression Breeds Radicalization
Rather than addressing the root causes of discontent – injustice, unemployment, exclusion – the federal government has opted for repression. Nowhere is this more glaring than in the continued unlawful detention of Nnamdi Kanu, despite multiple court orders for his release.
In October 2022, the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted Kanu, declaring his extraordinary rendition from Kenya illegal and stripping Nigerian courts of jurisdiction. That judgment remains valid and unchallenged. Yet, the government continues to detain him in defiance of the rule of law.
This is not just a legal anomaly – it is a political blunder. Every day Kanu remains in detention, alienation deepens, and radical elements gain ground. It reinforces the belief among many Southeast youths that justice and equality are unattainable within the Nigerian state.
The double standards are glaring. Militants in the Niger Delta received amnesty and contracts; Sunday Igboho was freed. Terrorists and bandits have been negotiated with and reintegrated. Why then is Kanu treated differently? Selective justice feeds resentment and erodes national unity.
The Rule of Law as Foundation for Peace
RULAAC’s report emphasises that security cannot be achieved through brute force. The exclusive reliance on military solutions has failed because it ignores the deeper social and governance deficits that sustain unrest.
Real peace requires:
1. Responsible governance and accountable leadership that prioritise people’s welfare over personal gain.
2. Security sector reform to ensure professionalism, accountability, and respect for human rights.
3. Economic revitalisation through investment in jobs, infrastructure, and education to tackle poverty and hopelessness.
4. Justice and inclusion – including the release of Nnamdi Kanu in compliance with court orders – to rebuild trust and promote reconciliation.
5. Protection of civic space, allowing journalists, activists, and communities to speak and participate freely in democratic life.
A Call for Moral and Political Renewal
The crisis in the Southeast is ultimately a crisis of governance – a reflection of how deeply corruption, impunity, and self-interest have hollowed out leadership. Criminal gangs thrive because politicians patronise them; security agencies act with impunity because leaders encourage lawlessness when it serves their interests.
Releasing Nnamdi Kanu will not solve every problem, but it will be a necessary first step toward rebuilding trust, upholding the rule of law, and shifting from repression to dialogue.
If Nigeria is serious about peace, it must confront the real enemies of the Southeast – criminal politics, failed governance, and state lawlessness – not merely the symptoms.
As Justice Louis Brandeis once warned, “If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself.”
Injustice breeds insecurity. Justice heals.
It is time for Nigeria’s leaders – both federal and regional – to choose justice, responsibility, and reform. Only then can the Southeast, and indeed Nigeria, breathe again.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)
