IPOB Raises Alarm Over Midnight Abductions: DSS, Military Accused of Night Raids and Disappearances in Southeast

Nigeria – October 30, 2025

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has raised a fresh security alert to a wave of midnight abductions and enforced disappearances allegedly being carried out by operatives of Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) and the military across parts of the Southeast.

Mazi Chinasa Nworu, a member of IPOB’s Directorate of State (DOS), issued the warning on Tuesday via social media, urging members in Biafraland to remain “extremely watchful and alert” in the face of what amounts to a renewed state-sponsored terror.

According to Nworu, IPOB members are being “kidnapped” in coordinated security operations typically executed between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., particularly in Enugu, Abia, and Imo, and surrounding areas.

“Do not close your eyes in sleep; these DSS and military teams usually carry out their operations between 1am and 5am. I requested that each of you remain vigilant, reevaluate your actions, and modify your strategies for movement while also reassessing the safety of your residences,” Nworu cautioned.

He further advised IPOB members to maintain communication with “trusted comrades” whenever they sense potential threats or notice suspicious movements around their communities.

“Stay alert and remain cautious, and remember to reach out to trusted comrades if you feel threatened or suspicious of strangers in your vicinity,” he added.

The alert follows growing fears among residents of the Southeast over extrajudicial arrests, disappearances, and killings, which have been repeatedly documented by local and international human right organizations.

IPOB, which advocates for the restoration of Biafra through a United Nations-supervised referendum, has long accused Nigerian security forces of using counter-insurgency operations as a pretext to persecute its unarmed members.

The group’s leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was abducted from Kenya in 2021 by the Nigerian government, in what international legal experts and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention described as an Extra-Ordinary Rendition and a grave violation of international law. Kanu was reportedly tortured for over a week before being illegally transferred to Nigeria.

Since then, he has remained in the custody of the DSS in Abuja under harsh, solitary confinement conditions that his lawyers and observers have likened to psychological and physical torture.

Despite multiple court rulings ordering his release, including a unanimous judgment by the Nigerian Court of Appeal in October 2022, a similar decision by the Abia State High Court, and a 2022 United Nations directive demanding his unconditional freedom, the Nigerian government has refused to comply.

Recently, the Kenyan High Court reaffirmed the illegality of Kanu’s abduction, describing it as “unconstitutional, unlawful, and a gross violation of human rights.”

Despite various court rulings, including the United Nations remains in detention despite several court rulings and a 2022 United Nations directive calling for his release.

Human rights groups such as Intersociety and Amnesty International have repeatedly accused Nigerian security agencies of waging a campaign of intimidation in the Southeast, using night raids, arbitrary detentions, and summary executions to silence dissent.

In several documented cases, security forces have allegedly killed or disappeared unarmed civilians, later branding them “IPOB members” without credible evidence.

While Nigerian authorities claim that their operations are targeted at armed criminal gangs, IPOB insists that it remains a non-violent movement pursuing legitimate self-determination through peaceful and democratic means. The group has repeatedly denied any involvement in violence, arguing that “those campaigning for a referendum do not need to carry arms.”

The renewed warning by Chinasa Nworu underscores the mistrust in the Southeast. Residents report that state agents often carry out raids under the cover of darkness, breaking into homes and whisking away people whose whereabouts largely remain unknown.

As of press time, the Nigerian military and DSS had not issued any official response to Nworu’s statement.