Foreign news agency Reuters has come under severe criticism following its report on ongoing military operations in the Northeast and other parts of the country, which was considered ‘misleading and ‘offensive’.
The news medium in the said report accused the military of running a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s Northeast “terminating at least 12,000 pregnancies among women and girls”.
It also alleged: “Many children were shot, poisoned, suffocated or run down by vehicles in army-led actions, adding
that “soldiers selected babies and toddlers for killing after rescuing them and their mothers from Islamist militants”.
In a swift reaction, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) and a Civil Society Organization (CSO), North East Advocacy for Peace (NEAP), dismissed the allegations as unfounded.
They warned the agency against truncating the fragile peace in the region.
The Director Defence Information (DDI), Major General Jimmy Akpor, in a statement, noted: “The fictitious series of stories actually constitute a body of insults on the Nigerian peoples and culture, for no people or culture in Nigeria practices such evil as dreamt up by the Reuters team.
“The supposed stories were purported to focus on two specific areas: First, supposed military-run programme of forced abortions performed on women and girls who were held captive and impregnated by Islamist militants and second, a supposed killing of children by the military as part of counterinsurgency operations.
“The Reuters report was to also allege that, since 2013, Nigeria’s military had run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s North East terminating at least 12,000 pregnancies among women and girls. That, many children were shot, poisoned, suffocated or run down by vehicles in army-led actions.
“Furthermore, the report was to allege that soldiers selected babies and toddlers for killing after rescuing them and their mothers from Islamist militants, amongst other weighty concocted allegations. The key motive for supposedly carrying out the abortions was allegedly the notion that the children of Islamist militants, because of the blood in their veins, would one day follow in their father’s footsteps and take up arm against the Nigerian Government and society.
“Irrespective of the security challenges we face as a nation, Nigerian peoples and cultures still cherish life. Hence, Nigerian military personnel have been raised, bred and further trained to protect lives, even at their own risk especially, when it concerns the lives of children, women and the elderly.
“This much is reflected in Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs), Concepts of Operations, Rules of Engagements (ROEs) and other documents that guide military operations. Hence, nowhere has the Nigerian military operated (Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, [Darfur] Sudan, Gambia and Guinea Bissau, amongst others) that, there has been any trace or allegation of infanticide. The Nigerian military will not therefore, contemplate such evil of running a systematic and illegal abortion programme anywhere and anytime, and surely not on our own soil.
“The Nigerian military will not also deliberately plan to target children during its counterinsurgency operations or other operations, both within and outside Nigeria.The Reuters team must have been schooled in, and have now become proponents of scorched-earth and inhuman policies employed by colonialists during the colonial era and during the battles for independence in Indo-China, Malaysia, Algeria and other places. Villages and crops were burnt. Children, women, elderly, the innocent were killed in systematic and inhuman programmes”.
“Nigerians, and by extension Nigerian military, are not made in such wicked mould, and the Reuters team cannot appropriate the evil of infanticide to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the Nigerian peoples.But, let’s interrogate the issues. It took Reuters 13 solid years to craft an allegation of infanticide against the Nigerian military and the Nigerian nation. This shows that a news agency as ‘renowned’ as Reuters is itself complicit for failing in its mandate to draw attention, to inform the publics about supposed occurrences that offend not only the laws of armed conflict but also international humanitarian law.
“Let us analyse the period from July 2021 till November 2022. A total of 82,064 Boko Haram fighters with members of their families have surrendered to troops of Op HADIN KAI. Out of this number, 16,553 were active male fighters, 24,446 were women while 41,065 were children.
“The Borno State Government is camping and accommodating them family-by-family, as per households, without having to separate the children from their parents. In the same camp are thousands of pregnant women and nursing mothers. A total of 262 babies were born within a period of 4 months (94 in July, 98 in August, 60 in September and 11 in October 2022).
“This figure comprises 150 female and 112 male children. The children were neither aborted nor yanked from their mothers and killed, as may have been the joy of Reuters. Let us now spotlight the rescued Chibok girls who were kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram Terrorists in 2014. A total of 11 of the Chibok girls were rescued this year 2022. Hauwa Joseph with her child, Mary Dauda with her child, and Ruth Bitrus were rescued in June 2022.
“Troops also rescued Kauna Luka with her child and Hanatu Musa with her 2 children in July 2022. In the same vein, Aisha Grema with her 4 year-old child and Falmata Lawal were rescued in August 2022. Furthermore, Asabe Ali with her child, Jinkai Yama with her 3 children, Yana Pogu with her 4 children and Rejoice Senki with her 2 children were rescued in September and November this year.
“A visit to the Rehabilitation Centre accommodating the Chibok girls on 29 November 2022 revealed that, there were 2 other Chibok girls (with their children) recued earlier, making the number of the Chibok girls in the Centre to be 13. Other residents in the facility were children who were rescued by troops unaccompanied (by any adult) or who separated from their parents/relatives due to fog of war. The welfare of the Chibok girls with their children and the unaccompanied children, is a major priority of the Borno State Government.
“UNICEF is assisting the Centre in tracing the relatives of the Chibok girls as well as those of the unaccompanied/separated children to facilitate reintegration with their communities. If there was any evil, illegal programme to systematically kill the children of Boko Haram terrorists, then the children that the terrorists begat through the Chibok girls would have been prime targets.
“The Joint Investigation Centre (JIC) is where captured terrorists (men and women) are being processed, to determine their level of complicity in the heinous crimes committed by the Boko Haram Terrorist group. There were 1,952 persons in the facility, which included 23 women with 11 children who remain attached to their mothers as at 30 November 2022.
“There is also a medical facility being run by the Centre in collaboration with medical staff of ICRC. The welfare of all the occupants at the JIC is thus highly prioritised, including basic education for the children, tailoring and hat-making skills acquisition for the adults as well as provision of recreational and sporting facilities for all the occupants.
“Since July 2021 when the Boko Haram terrorists started surrendering with their families in droves, a community-based reintegration process is evolving, involving local traditional leaderships, town councils and family members. The process is made easier due to the fact that most of the surrendered terrorists were actually conscripted from their villages by the core terrorists, whose ranks have been degraded by more than 95 percent.
“Accordingly, a total of 4,933 rescued civilians/surrendered persons (including 1,977 children, 1,423 women and 1,533 men) have been reintegrated with their communities from the camp housing the Chibok girls alone. The children were not taken from their parents and killed; unaccompanied ones were not also rounded up and killed.A crucial point to note is the fact that, more than 245 United Nations agencies, International NGOs and local NGOs operate in the North East, who are active in the IDP camps and other concentrations of vulnerable peoples.
“They provide food, medical care and other services in collaboration with the Nigerian and Borno State Governments. But the wickedness of the Reuters team members must have blinded them, shutting them off from the humanitarian realities in the North East of Nigeria”.
The NEAP in a statement signed by its President, Abdul Monguno, accused Reuters of undermining national security.
The group attributed the return of peace to ongoing military operations in the region, describing as “unethical and failed mission the attempt by Reuters a foreign media outfit, to use it’s medium to undermine national security”.
It expressed surprised that “Reuters is going petty in a concocted plot to smear the image of the Armed Forces of Nigeria with fake propaganda and unsubstantiated claims”.
The statement reads partly: “It is a shame that Reuters is now acting as agents for terrorists that have caused us pains. Terrorists that sent us into internally displaced people’s (IDP) homes in our country. It is a shame that a group of people who caused us several years backwardness can be defended by Reuters.
“Is Reuters aware of the several girl children forced into motherhood as a result of the activities of the insurgents? Is Reuters aware of our youths who have abandoned everything to become terrorists? Is Reuters aware of families who have been disjointed and some killed?
“We, NEAP and several other genuine organisations are in a better place to say what we have faced in the years that our region has been turned upside down. Reuters cannot speak for us.
“Instead of crucifying our military, they should be commended for the sacrifice been made to restore peace and stability in our region.
“We use this opportunity to warn that the gradual return of peace as a result of ongoing operations should not be truncated by the ulterior motives of Reuters. Is Reuters alarmed that peace is gradually returning to our region?
“Is the media house aware of the several terrorists who have surrendered and genuinely repented of their former nefarious activities?
“The Nigerian military has been commended globally for peace keeping in places of unrest, Reuters is aware of this. Therefore, the negative report will not swear the minds of Nigerians, especially we the people of the region.
“We remain eternally grateful to our Armed Forces for ongoing military operations in the North East and the non-kinetic approach of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen LEO Irabor which is yielding massive successes.”
