The group in an open letter to the people of the South-East on Monday warned that the escalating violence demands urgent and pragmatic community-led intervention, and called for community self-defence.

A group of concerned Igbo professionals in the diaspora under the umbrella of the Concerned Citizens of Igbo Nation in Diaspora (CCIND), has decried the deteriorating state of security in the South-East region of Nigeria.

The group in an open letter to the people of the South-East on Monday warned that the escalating violence demands urgent and pragmatic community-led intervention, and called for community self-defence.

In the letter signed by its spokesperson, Emeka Livingstone, the group described a surge in deadly attacks across the five states of the South-East including Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, and Abia states as a worrisome case of “recurrent terror, unchecked carnage, and widespread fear.”

The group said, “In recent weeks, certain adverse events that have surged in Igboland - from Ebonyi, Enugu, and Anambra to Imo and Abia states, call for serious concern from all well-meaning sons and daughters of Ndigbo.

“The security situation has deteriorated to a significant loss of lives and properties in the Southeast, and this is very worrisome.”

It said, “In the month of June 2025 alone, terrorists deceptively labeled as herdsmen and bandits struck yet again in a vicious attack in Agwa and several other communities in Oguta local government area of Imo State, leaving many dead and critically injured - including a pregnant woman.

“The innocent victims were in their homes and farms when these heavily armed herdsmen terrorists invaded their communities in the evening of the first day of June 2025, killed a United States-based returnee, abducted his wife in Umuguma, Owerri West local government area, Imo State.”

The group also cited two deadly herdsmen attacks in Enugu State’s Eha-Amufu community in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area, including the June 9 killings in Mgbuji Autonomous Community.

The group noted that some days later, on June 12, armed kidnappers reportedly abducted all passengers of a commercial vehicle traveling along Umuahia-Akara Road in Abia State.

“It is very worrisome these terrorists always get away with their heinous crimes Igboland,” the group lamented, expressing frustration at what it described as the Nigerian government’s failure to protect lives and properties in the region.

The South-East has faced intensifying insecurity in recent years, exacerbated since the extraordinary rendition and detention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in 2021.

While initial tensions centred around separatist agitations and state crackdowns, the region has more recently seen a proliferation of attacks by suspected herdsmen, bandits, and unidentified gunmen, leading to deaths, kidnappings, and mass displacement of villagers.

Communities like Eha-Amufu and parts of Imo and Ebonyi states have become hotspots for brutal incursions.

Security analysts have described the situation as “a multi-layered crisis,” combining ethnic tensions, religious extremism, banditry, and political neglect.

Local authorities have been accused of offering an insufficient response or appearing indifferent, with vigilante groups in many areas becoming the de facto defence mechanism for residents.

CCIND strongly criticised political leaders from the region, both serving and past, for “doing nothing to stem the worsening insecurity.”

The group accused them of either being mute out of fear of losing political favour or actively undermining grassroots efforts at self-defense.

“It is horrifying to realise that what started as a provocation from a group that questioned the validity of western life and education; that presented itself as Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansarudeen, Lakurawa and other jihadists, has snowballed into a national security crisis that has gone largely unchecked,” the letter stated, referencing the early origins of jihadist groups in the North-East and their apparent expansion.

The group stated that the insecurity in the South-East “highlights the fact that there is a deliberate plot to disquiet the Southeast.”

It added, “The inaction of our leaders adds fuel to the injury.”

The group insisted that beyond condemnation, action must follow.

“We should not stop at mere condemnation and constant outcry but initiate pragmatic measures to arrest this incessant invasion and terrorism in Alaigbo.”

It called for the mobilisation of hunters’ associations and youth groups across the South-East to defend their ancestral lands.

“We therefore call on Ndi Igbo to organise the association of hunters in their various communities in Igbo land to counter the operatives of terror in our bushes and end this carnage, once and for all.

“We must employ and deploy every means necessary and possible for the security, prosperity and preservation of Alaigbo.

“We therefore earnestly call on Igbo youths to rise, organise and defend Igboland, our only homeland,” the letter stated.

The CCIND’s statement added to growing calls for regional security architecture in the South-East, amid nationwide debates over state policing and restructuring.

With federal authorities often overwhelmed or accused of bias, residents in affected areas increasingly rely on local vigilance groups and informal security arrangements.