By Nurat Uthman
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has indicted the Nigerian Army of Mass killings in the North-East while clearing it of alleged forced abortion in the region.
The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East, which sat for nearly two years, released its findings at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
Headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Adoke, the seven-man panel, ruled that while investigations found allegations of termination of approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East untrue due to lack of evidence before its independent panel, the military was indeed culpable of both infant and community killings in its operations on June 16, 2016.
“The panel made its findings meticulously on each of the issues. 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.
“But the panel finds the military culpable of infanticide and the killing of community members in the village of Abisare, in Marite local government area of Borno state on the 16th of June, 2016.
“We received witnesses testimonies including those of survivors and relations of the deceased,” Secretary of the panel, Hillary Ogbonna said during a presentation.
Rtrd Justice Adoke spoke about how the independent investigation worked without interference from the commission or any other government agencies in the country.
“It is to the credit of the panel and the secretariat of the human rights commission and the supportive partners today, that I can proudly assert that an extensive investigation based on justice and fairness has been achieved.”
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.
In December 2022, Reuters in its report 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 abortions by the Nigerian army.
According to the report, the women were Boko Haram captives rescued by the Nigerian military.
According to the report, the abortions were mostly carried out without the consent of the women and girls.
