Then 150 of them were allegedly tortured and detained for over 18 months without trial.
A human rights organisation, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has given a chilling revelation of how Nigerian security agencies arrested no fewer than 300 Igbo women and labelled them “Biafra members”.
Then 150 of them were allegedly tortured and detained for over 18 months without trial.
The organisation identified the Nigerian Army, police and secret police Department of State Services (DSS) as the lead security agencies perpetrating the atrocities against the civilian population of South-East Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Intersociety disclosed this in a report titled: "In Two Years (Oct 2020-Oct 2022) Army, Police, Others Arrested 150 Defenseless Women In The East, Falsely Labeled Them 'Biafra Members,' Tortured And Degraded Them For Six Months To 18 Months Without Trial Or Securing A Single Conviction."
The report was signed by its principal officers - Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chidinma Udegbunam, Chinwe Umeche and Obianuju Joy Igboeli.
Intersociety, however, noted that "general speaking, not less than 300 defenseless women have been arrested in connection with false ‘Biafra Membership’ accusation," adding that of this number; "no fewer than 150 were brutally tortured and degraded and others paid through the nose to secure their freedom."
It noted that among the worst affected 150, scores have momentarily or permanently disappeared, accusing the police, army and DSS officers as responsible for the enforced disappearance.
"The dignity of womanhood and sanctity of life and civil liberties of the affected women have egregiously and grisly been targeted for abuse and violence by the country’s crude and barbarous security forces. This is to the extent of attacking and abducting women in labor and newly delivered nursing mothers," Intersociety disclosed.
The rights group stated that Buhari’s security team dominated by northerners executed the atrocities under the guise of “crushing Biafra agitation and agitators”, adding that the authorities of the Nigerian military, DSS and police through their “crack squads” or “special forces” have had a field day, abusing defenseless women in Eastern Nigeria with reckless abandon.
"The litany of abuses and violations against women include falsely and baselessly labeling them ‘IPOB members’ or ‘wives and mothers of IPOB/ESN members’ or ‘cooks and nurses for IPOB members’ or ‘mothers-in-law, sisters and girlfriends of IPOB members’, among others.
"Other custodial atrocities against defenseless women are indiscriminate arrest, indecent assault, verbal abuses, stigmatization, trumped up charges or accusations, custodial and outside custodial sexual harassment, torture including deprivation of sanitary pads and toiletries, rape, de-virginity and other virginal abuses such as torturing detained pregnant females till they pass out.
"The rest are reckless use of prosecutorial vindictiveness leading to long detention without trial, denial of custodial liberties such as being left under inhuman and degrading conditions, custodial extortion, and denial of access to family members, doctors and lawyers and lack of fair trial and fair hearing during trial, etc."
The group described the operational crudity and brigandage adopted by the three security agencies as very strange and alien to Nigeria’s body of laws and international laws which Nigeria is a signatory to.
According to Intersociety, its investigations on the conduct of atrocities against defenseless Igbo women by the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force and the DSS show different patterns are used.
It said, "DSS and Army are notorious for denial of arrest and detention responsibility as in most cases when families go to them to enquire about the whereabouts of their ‘missing mothers’, denial of responsibility is usually the answer given to such families.
"This is a clear case of security abduction and disappearance without traces in the eyes of int’l law. The Police crack squads such as ‘IRT’, ‘STS’ and -Anti-Terrorism Squads on the other hand are noted, in some cases, for admitting arrest and detention responsibility but earned notoriety for torturing and holding such women for long periods without trial spanning from six to eighteen months or above."
The organisation noted that none of the security agencies have secured any conviction against any of women.
"The purpose of arresting and detaining citizens for crimes is to secure conviction under the principle of fair trial and fair hearing or administrative or court discharge and acquittal with payment of adequate compensation if the accusation leading to the arrest and detention was made in fatal error or in bad faith.
It said, "But in the case of the three security agencies mentioned especially the police and the DSS which have civil prosecutorial powers, it is on record that no single conviction has been secured against any of the defenseless women wrongly arrested and spuriously accused of ‘Biafra Membership’. The three security agencies are now outlaw by gravely detaining the defenseless and wrongly accused women beyond the constitutionally provided sixty days without bail in the case of accusation bordering on committing capital offenses."
It said the inability of the named security agencies to secure a single conviction is occasioned by the spurious and trumped-up nature of accusations or charges leveled with no single evidence to sustain them at a court trial. It accused them of using prosecutorial vindictiveness, citing the case of Ifeyinwa Egole, Maria Ezediaru, Ngozi Umeadi and 53 defenseless Obigbo Women who were abducted by soldiers of the 34 Nigerian Army Brigade, Obinze in Owerri in October 2020.