Abstract
The separatist insurgency and armed herder assaults in south-east Nigeria, mainly, Anambra State, have reached a tipping point after the 2020 ENDSARS demonstration. Examining how security personnel overruns, kidnappings, and the gruesome deaths of police officers and civilians have left the Southeast afraid and scarred is the main objective of this research. The paper investigates the challenges that Nigerian police officers face in combating insecurity, such as cases of police brutality and the use of community policing by southeastern governors in collaboration with the police; and how the neglect of an already existing security network created by the separatist insurgency in the southeast has resulted in violent attacks against police security operatives in the region. The study relied on secondary sources of data and employed a qualitative approach to data collecting to collect accurately accessible document data. As a framework for analysis, the study used Karl Max's Conflict Theory. The study revealed that the federal government's perception of the police as a harsh repression and intimidation force used against separatist insurgency resulted in insurgent strategic armed attacks. This caused further holes in the security of the southeast, allowing anonymous gunmen to kill and shoot people. As a consequence, the report recommends that the Nigerian police force upgrade its security monitoring system, institutionalize community policing through appropriate regulations to minimize the use of unlawful force, and perform a structural evaluation of the Nigerian police.