Friday saw the submission of the report by the Special Independent Investigative Panel (SIIP) on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency in the Northeast to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).The commission’s partners and officials from many foreign organizations attended the ceremony held in Abuja. The US Embassy, UNICEF, UNDHR, and the EU are among them. Representatives of the Chief of Air Staff, COAS, and CDS are among the others.
The NHRC established the panel in 2023 in response to Reuters reports that claimed many instances of atrocities against civilians by Nigerian military officers and men serving in the Northeast during the period under consideration.
According to Reuters, 10,000 forced abortions were performed on local women by the military. Among the other violations are rape, torture, extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and unlawful detention.
The panel stated in the study, which was made public and given to Dr. Tony Ojukwu, the commission’s executive secretary, that there was no proof to back up claims that the military was responsible for 10,000 abortions.
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The panel’s general counsel, Hilary Ogbonna, revealed in a visual presentation that it also spoke with witnesses who were not state players, including district leaders and other local residents.
The number of hospitals, both military and civilian, and the statistics on medications used for abortion-related problems during that time did not add up.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was accused of performing unlawful abortions on women in the Northeast, and Reuters was said to have disregarded these violations by MSF and a few other non-governmental organizations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, an organization that monitors human rights issues, was unable to present to testify and provide important material to uncover the truth about such serious accusations, the panel stated.
Nonetheless, it claimed that infanticide—the killing of newborns in the Marte community in Borno State—had been committed by the military.
According to the panel, certain non-governmental organizations in the Northeast committed numerous violations while posing as community-based organizations. Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, was specifically blamed for running clinics where women were given illegal abortions.
The seven-member panel’s chairman, Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd), had earlier commended the Commission for forming the group to determine whether or not the accusations in the Reuters story were true.
The NHRC charged the Justice Aboki panel at its inception with the following tasks: “investigate claims of egregious human rights violations in the 2022 Reuters report, receive public memoranda on claims of human rights violations by the Nigerian Armed Forces in counter-insurgency operations, and make conclusions on culpability and recommendations for accountability and reforms.”
He stated that the NHRC and the other national government agencies did not interfere in any way with the panel’s activities.
According to the panel’s general counsel, who provided visual data, the report is divided into three volumes: primary reports, a summary of the study, and graphics.
He claimed that the panel, which included of senior military leaders, theater commanders, military troops, civilians, medical professionals, state and local government representatives, and members of the public, met for 12 weeks over the course of 18 months.
As to his statement, the panel convened at four distinct locations: Abuja, Damaturu, Adamawa, and Maiduguri in Borno State.
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Following receipt of the report, the executive secretary expressed gratitude to the panel for their work in the probe, which he stated began in 2023.
According to him, the panel was established in response to the serious accusations made in the Reuters story, in line with Sections 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act 2010, as amended.
According to Ojukwu, the study urges clear action and emphasizes the pressing need for transparency in the nation’s security activities as well as the necessity of shielding civilians from impunity.
According to Ojukwu, the panel advised the federal government to provide compensation to the victims of the killings in Abisare, Marte local government, Borno state, within ninety days of receiving the report.
Additionally, it suggested that the Nigerian Armed Forces and other relevant authorities set up a court martial to bring charges against suspected officers and men from the now-defunct 8 Task Force Division, Monguno, who were in Abisare in June 2016 or other military units there during that time.
