Amnesty International Demands Immediate Release of Christian Couple Abducted by Nigerian Security Forces Four Years Ago

Abuja, Nigeria – November 13, 2025

Amnesty International has issued a renewed call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Sunday Ifedi and his wife, Mrs. Calista Ifedi, who were allegedly abducted by Nigerian security operatives from their home in Ezeagu community, Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, on November 23, 2021.

According to Amnesty International, the Christian couple was taken away by security personnel over alleged “membership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),” a peaceful movement campaigning for a referendum, and has since been held incommunicado.

The organization said the Nigerian authorities have continued to deny the couple access to their family, lawyers, and medical care, while also concealing their whereabouts for nearly four years.

In a statement posted on social media, Amnesty International described the situation as “a gross violation of human rights and due process,” noting that the enforced disappearance of citizens by state agents has become an alarming pattern in the South-East region, a Christian dominated region.

“Since their abduction, all efforts to determine their location and condition of health have been deliberately frustrated by the Nigerian government,” the group said.

“In their absence, the education and wellbeing of their children have suffered greatly. Hundreds of other families across the South-East are living with similar anguish, torn apart by unlawful detentions and secret imprisonments.”

Amnesty International further urged the Department of State Services (DSS) to “immediately and unconditionally release Sunday and Calista Ifedi,” stressing that detaining individuals without charge or trial is a clear breach of both Nigerian and international human rights law.

The organization also called on the federal government to end the culture of impunity surrounding arbitrary arrests and disappearances, and to ensure justice and compensation for victims and their families.

During military operations in the South-East, Nigerian security agencies, including the military and police, committed unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and destruction of property.

Amnesty International had in August this year released a detailed report titled “A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria,” documenting widespread human rights violations in the South-East between January 2021 and December 2024.

The report highlights cases of unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and forced displacement allegedly carried out by security forces, state-backed paramilitary groups, and other armed actors in the Christian region.

According to the findings, “the Nigerian authorities’ continued failure to address the deepening security crisis in the South-East has fostered a climate of impunity, allowing both state and non-state actors to operate without restraint.” Amnesty International said at least 1,844 people were killed between January 2021 and June 2023 as a result of the escalating violence.

“The Nigerian authorities’ brutal clampdown on pro-Biafra protests since August 2015 plunged the South-East region into an endless cycle of bloodshed, which has created a climate of fear and left many communities vulnerable,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.