The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has reported that 84 witnesses have testified at the panel responsible for investigating allegations made by international media organization, Reuters, against the Nigerian Army.
The allegations included involvement in the termination of 10,000 pregnancies, widespread killing of children, and intentional violation of the rights of women and girls during counter-insurgency operations in the North East.
After conducting on-the-ground investigations and taking testimony in the North East, the panel has resumed its work in Abuja to collect further testimony.
The Secretary of the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East, Hillary Ogbonna, who is also a Senior Human Rights Adviser to Chief Tony Ojukwu, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, explained that Reuters had interviewed 40 soldiers, mostly officers, during their investigation.
According to Ogbonna, the NHRC received the latest report, named “Abortion Assault II,” on April 19th.
The report is a follow-up to Reuters’ initial reports released in December of last year. The Nigerian military has denied the allegations and claimed that they are an attempt to discredit their counter-insurgency operation.
While Colonel Yakubu Ibrahim of the Nigerian Defence College dismissed Reuters’ allegations as fiction, Major General Benjamin Sawyer, the Force Commander of the United Nations mission to South-Sudan, encouraged the investigative panel to uncover the truth.
He acknowledged the military’s responsibility to combat insurgency and restore peace in the region but stressed that such actions should not involve secret or illicit practices.
Retired Major General Jame Komolafe, former Commander of the 21 Brigade in the North East, also testified that the Reuters report was a deliberate falsehood meant to discredit the military’s integrity.
He affirmed that the military abides by the law and would not engage in illicit medical practices.
The panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Abdul-Aboki, is officially known as the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Implementation of Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East.
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