• Says no evidence of mass abortion allegation
An investigative panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday indicted the Nigerian Army over alleged mass infanticide and other killings at Abisari in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, in 2016.
But it absolved the Army of allegations of mass abortion made against it by a foreign news agency in December 2022.
The panel said there was no evidence that the Army ran a secret programme terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of freed captives of Boko Haram terrorists as claimed by the news agency.
According to the news report, many of the pregnancies resulted from rape of the kidnapped women and girls by Boko Haram fighters.
The federal government and the military denied the allegations soon after the story was published but an unsatisfied United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres demanded a probe.
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This prompted the NHRC to set up the panel to investigate allegations of violations during the military’s counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East, Nigeria had a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki as chairman.
Speaking on the panel’s report yesterday, NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hilary Ogbonna, said “there was no evidence before the panel to prove” the mass abortion allegation.
But he said the military was found culpable for infanticide, killing of children, and killings of other residents of Abisari village in Borno State.
The panel recommended compensation to the victims of the killings in Abisare and prosecution of officers suspected to be involved.
The panel’s secretary said they interviewed 199 witnesses to get testimonies to arrive at their findings and conclusion.