GUNMEN FORCE FAMILIES TO PAY BURIAL LEVIES IN ANAMBRA, IMO COMMUNITIES
Read Time:2 Minute, 7 Second
By Aishat Momoh. O.
Community leaders in Lilu, Anambra State, and Agwa, Imo State, have raised alarm over the imposition of burial levies on grieving families by gunmen accused of killing residents in their communities.
The leaders made the disclosure on Thursday at the relaunch of Amnesty International’s report on extrajudicial killings in the South-East, held in Ikeja, Lagos.
Speaking virtually, the Palace Secretary of Lilu, Dr. Dominic Okoli, said no fewer than 25 people were killed and over 30 houses destroyed in the community between 2020 and 2025. He lamented that the attacks had turned Lilu, once a peaceful agrarian settlement, into “the Sambisa of the South-East.”
Okoli revealed that gunmen had taken over the community, forcing residents to pay money before burying their dead. “We can’t even bury our dead. Before you bury your dead, you have to obtain permission from the gunmen by paying them money. Funerals have been banned,” he said.
He added that the violence had destroyed health facilities and forced schools to shut down, leaving Lilu with the highest number of out-of-school children in the region.
In Agwa, Imo State, community leader Nduka Ozor corroborated the claims, disclosing that burial levies sometimes went as high as ₦500,000. He recounted how his brother, the community’s monarch, and a pregnant woman were among dozens killed by the armed men.
“They are not unknown gunmen; they are members of our community, and they carried out killings without masks. Properties worth over ₦1bn were destroyed, and over 60 people were killed,” Ozor said emotionally.
Okoli and Ozor appealed to government and security agencies to rescue their communities from further bloodshed.
In his remarks, Amnesty International’s Country Director, Isa Sanusi, urged the Federal Government to conduct a thorough investigation into the violence perpetrated by both state and non-state actors in the South-East.
“The Nigerian authorities must uphold their constitutional and international human rights obligations by protecting the rights to life, liberty, and security of the people. Authorities must undertake prompt, impartial, and transparent investigations into all allegations of violations,” Sanusi stated.
As of press time, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, had yet to respond to inquiries about the gunmen-imposed burial levies.
Killings and abductions have persisted in the South-East. Between July and August 2025, at least 12 people were killed in five Imo communities, while gunmen abducted three siblings in Amansea, Anambra, with the boy later killed after resisting an order to defile his sisters.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0