The National Human Rights Commission Commission is set to inaugurate a Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Implementation of Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East.
This was contained in a statement issued the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu (SAN), in Abuja.
Ojukwu said that the panel will among other things focus on investigating the Reuters report, which alleged that Nigerian Military was involved in abortion of many pregnancies in the North East in the last 10 years.
The international media organisation, he said, had alleged that the Military was involved in massacre of children as well as other Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the North East.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Military has refuted the allegations, saying 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.
Ojukwu said the panel will be inaugurated on February 7, 2023 at the Bukhari Bello Auditorium, NHRC Headquarters in Abuja.
Members of the panel, he said, are retired Justice Abdu Aboki, Supreme Court Justice, as Chairman; Kemi Okonyedo, representing Women Rights Organisation; and Azubuike Nwankenta, representing the Nigeria Bar Association.
Others are retired Major General Letam Wiwa (Military Law and Intelligence Expert) and Dr. Maisaratu Bakari (Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital Yola).
Others are Dr. Fatima Akilu (Humanitarian Expert, representing Civil Society) and Halima Nuradeen (Psychologist, representing Youths).
NAN reports that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, had said about the report: “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.”
