… CDS hails report
The Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa has hailed the report of a Special Independent investigative panel that probed alleged Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North East including the alleged forced abortion of 10,000 girls and women pregnancies.
A seven man Independent Investigative panel constituted by National Human Rights Commission and headed by a retired justice of Supreme Court, Justice Abdu Aboki exonerated the Nigerian military of the indictment by the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC) and Reuters.
Specifically, Reuters had in its report in 2022 accused the Nigerian military of perpetuating a series of grave human rights violations during the counter-insurgency operations in the North-East since 2013.
It alleged that the military carried out secret systemic and illegal abortion programmes, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies, recounting the experiences of some alleged victims who claimed to have witnessed the deaths resulting from forced the abortions by the Nigerian army. According to the report, the women were Boko Haram captives rescued by the Nigerian military.
accused Nigerian military of conducting forceful abortions and other infractions in the North East during the peak of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
But the Special Investigative Panel which sat for almost two years probing the allegations found that they were false and unfounded.
The panel specifically stated that “the allegations of systematic abortions, torture, rape and extra judicial killings levelled against the AFN were false.”
The investigative panel cleared the military of the allegation of terminating approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East. It described as false, the allegation contained in a special report published by a foreign media organisation.
Reacting to the panel report, the Chief of Defence Staff General Musa reiterated that “no amount of false accusations will distract the AFN from exercising its constitutional mandate of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation”.
NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hilary Ogbonna, while announcing the submission of the panel report said there was no evidence to back the allegations in the foreign media report.
“For the abortion assault, the panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces committed a systematic secret or policy-bringing abortion in the Northeast to the tune of 10,000 abortions. There was no evidence before the panel to prove that,” he said.
In his remarks, NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, said the commission would embark on a series of public consultations and conversations on the report to ensure the implementation of the report.
“The NHRC is committed to ensuring that citizens of the Abisari community identified in the report receive compensation and will continue to work with the military and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that justice is served. Never again shall these kinds of atrocities go unaddressed,” Ojukwu said.
He stated that the commission would hold a civil-military forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders.