Security
Alleged Mass Abortion By The Nigerian Army: Investigation Advances As 50 People Share Their Stories
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In December 2022, Reuters reported that the Nigerian military terminated the pregnancies of over 10,000 women rescued from Boko Haram captivity.
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The military authorities swiftly dismissed the content of the report as false.
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However, the human rights commission set up a panel to investigate the allegations in February.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East Nigeria (SIIP North East) has heard 50 witnesses in an ongoing investigation of the Nigerian military’s activities in the troubled region.
Hilary Ogbonna, the secretary of the panel, made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola, Adamawa State, at the ongoing fact-finding mission in the North-east counter-insurgency operations.
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The panel was inaugurated on February 7, 2023, by Tony Ojukwu, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in response to the publication of a three-part report by Reuters, an international news media, in December 2022.
Reuters report covered mass abortion, massacre of children, and Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) allegedly perpetrated by the Nigerian military. The report alleged the military terminated the pregnancies of over 10,000 pregnant women, rescued from Boko Haram captivity, from 2013.
Ogbonna, who is the human rights adviser to the commission, said the testimonies were received during the panel’s visit to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
“So far, we have collected testimonies from over 50 witnesses, including the Nigeria Armed Forces, military, civilians and hospitals of the three states,” he said.
“We are just concluding our hearing in Yola. We are going back to Abuja to continue with our documentation and analysis of evidence that we gathered.”
According to NAN, the panel on Saturday, visited Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital (MAUTH) Yola, Specialist Hospital Yola and Army Barracks Medical clinic of 23 Artillery Brigade, Yola,
However, the military has refuted the allegations saying that it was a ploy to malign the image of the Nigerian Armed Forces, which has been at the forefront of the counter-insurgency efforts in the North-east.
Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor
The Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, said: “It’s outright nonsense.
“Their allusion is news to me. It never occurred. I never saw anything like that from Maiduguri down to Maimalamari Cantonment where I lived that is a major hospital for our personnel and their family. I am disappointed to say the least. So it is not true.”
The Chief of Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, has similarly denied the allegations.
Members of the panel are a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki, as chairman, Kemi Okonyedo, representing Women Rights Organisation, Azubuike Nwankenta, representing the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Others are Letam Wiwa, a retired major-general (military law and intelligence expert), and Maisaratu Bakari (consultant in obstetrics and gynecology (Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital Yola).
FURTHER READING
The rest are Fatima Akilu (humanitarian expert, representing civil society), and Halima Nuradeen (psychologist, representing the youths).
(NAN)
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