From the worsening, deadly attacks in Nigeria’s South-east to the life imprisonment of Nnamdi Kanu and his fellow pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, the year 2025 was characterised by a number of events in the region.
PREMIUM TIMES is highlighting some of the defining events in the region in 2025:
Deadly attacks
The deadly attacks in the South-east in previous years did not cease in 2025.
In 2025, like in other years, gunmen said to be part of the Biafra agitation in the region, abducted, killed and beheaded several persons, mainly government officials and security operatives in the region, during numerous attacks within the year.
Security facilities in the five South-east states – Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Abia –suffered recurring attacks by gunmen in 2025.
The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been linked to some deadly attacks in the South-east and some parts of the South-south of Nigeria.
IPOB has, however, repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. The separatist group is leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the two regions.
Some of the prominent incidents include the killing of at least 12 people in July by gunmen who invaded three communities in Imo State and the massacre of 13 others in Anambra State by gunmen who invaded Ogboji community in Orumba South Local Government Area of the state in late June.
Beyond killings, kidnappings intensified in 2025 in the South-east, with several people abducted and others killed by their abductors across the region.
Catholic priests, politicians, university lecturers and even students have been targeted in such attacks in the region in 2025.
Apart from attacks and killin
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