Panel indicts Army for Borno mass infanticide, killings, but dismisses Reuters mass abortion story

An investigative panel of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has indicted the Nigerian Army over a 2016 case of mass infanticide and other killings at Abisari in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, North-east Nigeria.

However, the panel cleared the Army of allegations of mass abortion contained in a December 2022 Reuters investigative report.

The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East, Nigeria, (SIIP North-East, which sat for nearly two years, released its findings at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja on Friday.

The NHRC had set up the seven-member panel headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki, in January 2023, following a December 2022 Reuters investigative report alleging that the Nigerian military ran a secret programme terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of freed captives of Boko Haram terrorists in the troubled North-east region.

According to Reuters, many of the pregnancies resulted from rape of the kidnapped women and girls by Boko Haram fighters.

The federal government and the Nigerian military denied the allegations. But the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a probe.

In the heat of the controversy, the NHRC set up the panel to broadly investigate violations during the military’s counter-insurgency operations in the North-East over the years.

Highlighting the key findings of the panel in Abuja on Friday, the Senior Human Rights Adviser of the NHRC, Hilary Ogbonna, said there was no evidence to back the allegations in the Reuters report.

“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,” he said.

Cross-section of attendees at the presentation of the panel report in Abuja on Friday.

However, Mr Ogbonna said the Nigerian military was found culpable for infanticide, killing of children, and killings of other residents of Abisari village in Borno State.

“But the panel found the military culpable of infanticide and the killing of community members in a village of Abisari in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State on the 16th of June 2016,” he said, while noting that the military had denied the allegation.

The representatives of the Nigerian military were present at Friday’s event but did not speak on the report.

Recommendations and implementation of plan

The panel recommended compensation to the victims of the killings in Abisare and prosecution of officers suspected to be involved.

Speaking, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, 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.

He added that the NHRC would hold a civil-military forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders.

Military personnel at the presentation of the award at NHRC headquaters in Abuja on Friday

He said, “As part of our commitment to ensuring the panel’s recommendations are fully realised, the NHRC will be embarking upon a series of public consultations and conversations on the report.

“The first of this series will be taking place in Maiduguri next week. We plan to host similar forums in Damaturu and Yola.

“In December, NHRC plans to host a Civil-Military Forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders. Additionally, the NHRC will work closely with military and medical institutions to foster respect for human rights in humanitarian situations.”

According to him, 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.”

Investigation process; Reuters shunned panel’s invitation

The panel heard 199 witnesses, comprising civilians and military personnel from the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency- Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states – during its proceedings.

The witnesses included eight girls rescued from Boko Hara.

They also include district heads, state actors, 16 non-governmental organisations, whistle-blowers and 57 hospital workers.

Cross-section of attendees

Attempts to get data from some hospitals were not possible due to poor record systems. Key witnesses had also died which also served as a challenge.

On 25 March 2023, the Chief of Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, testified before the panel

The then Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, also testified in May 2023.

Both officers and other military officers denied the allegations levelled against the military in the course of the panel’s hearing.

Some military witnesses said the issue of the termination of pregnancies was a personal matter and not a military concern.

However, Reuters, MSF, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were said to have refused to honor the panel’s invitation.

The panel chairman, Mr Aboki, said that the investigation process was fair.

“It is to the credit of the panel members, the secretariat, the NHRC and the supporting partners that today, I can proudly assert that an extensive and thorough investigation based on justice and fairness has been achieved,” he said.

Background

The December 2022 Reuters 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.

The alleged abuses include conducting secret systemic and illegal abortion programmes, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies.

The Reuters report recounted the experiences of some alleged victims who claimed to have witnessed the deaths resulting from forced the abortions by the Nigerian army. According to the report, the women were Boko Haram captives rescued by the Nigerian military.

The report alleged that the abortions were mostly carried out without the consent of the women and girls.

The news orgnanisation’s report also highlighted cases of air strikes on Boko Haram camps, which ended up killing civilians, including women and children.