Group Demands Judicial Inquiry Into De-Skinned Human Corpses In Imo

The American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) has called on the governors of the five states of the South-East Region to set up an independent judicial commission of enquiry to probe an alleged evacuation of de-skinned corpses in Imo State.

THE WHISTLER reports that the concerns of AVID, corroborated by Amnesty International, are based on reported night movement of a large number of unidentified corpses, many of them skeletal humans, from mortuaries in Imo State, including those at Ngor Okpala General Hospital and Mbieri General Hospital, to unknown destinations.

According to AVID, the act was part of a grim and unbroken pattern of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and the systematic disposal of bodies that has plagued Southeast Nigeria since 2015.

The group said, “The images and accounts of skeletal remains being moved under cover of darkness only deepen the legitimate suspicion that evidence of unlawful killings is being deliberately erased.”

AVID said as military veterans sworn to uphold the rule of law, constitutional order, and the dignity of the human person, they would not remain silent while the dead are treated as inconvenient refuse and the living are denied closure.

The statement read, “The right to life is not a privilege granted by the state; it is an inalienable entitlement. The failure to identify the deceased, establish the causes of death, preserve forensic evidence, and inform grieving families constitutes a continuing violation of both Nigerian constitutional guarantees and international human rights obligations.”

They demanded that the governors of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo set up Judicial Commissions of Inquiry “with full powers to investigate all extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and suspicious deaths linked to security operations in the region from 2015 to the present”.

AVID demanded that the commissions be chaired by retired judges of high integrity, composed of independent legal practitioners, forensic experts, pathologists, and representatives of civil society, and must operate with complete transparency and public sittings.

The commissions must compel the production of all mortuary records, medical reports, police and military incident reports, and any other relevant documentation, AVID said.

It also demanded comprehensive forensic examinations, including DNA testing where necessary; and ensure that families of the missing and deceased are formally notified and given the opportunity to identify remains.

The statement added, “All persons against whom credible evidence of unlawful killings or concealment of evidence is established must be prosecuted without fear or favor, regardless of rank or institutional affiliation.

“Pending the full and public accounting of everybody moved from Imo State mortuaries and other facilities across the region, no further disposal, mass burial, or destruction of remains or records shall be permitted. The Governors of the Southeast cannot continue to govern while the blood of their people cries out from unmarked graves and overcrowded mortuaries.

“Silence in the face of this horror is complicity. Half-measures and cosmetic committees will not suffice. Only independent, thorough, and fearless judicial inquiries can begin to restore confidence, deliver accountability, and afford the bereaved the dignity of knowing what became of their loved ones.”

AVID sympathised with the families of the disappeared and the dead, and called on Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, the South East Governors’ Forum, the National Assembly, international human rights bodies, and all people of conscience to support this demand for truth and justice.

It added, “The dead must be named. The killers must be held to account. The families must have closure.”