…Encourages AI to substantiate its allegations
The Nigerian Armed Forces has refuted the allegations contained in the report of Amnesty International that its personnel are abusing women and children rescued from Boko Haram terrorists in North East of Nigeria.
A Report of Amnesty International launched on Monday in Abuja had accused the military of abusing women and children stating that “dozens of women and young girls have been unlawfully detained and abused in Nigerian military detention facilities after escaping captivity by Boko Haram extremists in the country’s northeast.”
“Some of the women were detained with their children for years because of their real or perceived association with the extremists, the report said. It cited 126 interviews, mostly with survivors, over the 14 years since the Islamic extremists launched their insurgency, the report claimed.
Refuting the allegations Major General Edward Buba, the Director Defence Media Operations,said in a statement that Nigerian Armed Forces is a professional military that operate within the ambit of International law of armed conflict.
“The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to allegations labelled against the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) by Report of Amnesty International.
“The AFN hereby makes it unequivocally clear that, it is a professional military force that operates within the ambit of International law of armed conflict. Additionally, the AFN adheres to humanitarian law and principles governing human rights.
It said “the Nigerian Armed Forces elects not to join words with organisations such as Amnesty International, rather would encourage them to approach the military high command to substantiate their allegations.
“The military has self regulating mechanisms with which it administers the military justice system to address any proven case of misconduct of personnel.
“It is worthy of note to state that, the AFN led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa OFR, has zero tolerance for indiscipline and any form of improper conduct during operations across the country. It is for this reason that, there are standing court martials to treat any form of misbehaviour by erring personnel, especially those that portray the military negatively to the general populace.
“Lastly, the AFN will remain focussed on its objective. We will be unperturbed by such self serving statements targeted at dampening the moral of troops in operational theatres.
“Rather, we will engage constructively with Amnesty International, where available. Overall, we will continue on the trajectory of conducting operations assiduously to defeat terrorism in our nation,” the Defence Headquarters stated.