The National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) Special Independent Investigative Panel on human rights violation in counter-insurgency operations in North-East Nigeria (SIIP-North East) has said Reuters reports on alleged gross human rights violations in the North East by the Nigerian military was untrue.
The panel disclosed this on Friday, while submitting its final report to the Executive Secretary of the Commission Dr. Tony Ojukwu.
Recall the Special Investigative panel was inaugurated in February 2023 by the NHRC Executive Secretary following Reuters reports in December 2022, alleged series of systematic gross human rights violations by the Nigerian military during counter-insurgency operations in the North-East region. These violations according to Reuters targeted women and children, involving mass abortions and systematic killings of women and children.
In the report,the 7-Members Panel chaired by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Abdu Aboki, said most of the allegations levelled against the military were false, including forced systemic abortions administered on women in the affected areas.
Justice Aboki in his opening remarks, commended the NHRC for the confidence reposed on members of the panel, and the cooperation enjoyed from stakeholders, particularly the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe state governments as well as the military headquarters.
He said the panel sat for 12 weeks spread across 12 months, with 199 witnesses making appearance before the panel. The military generals, officers and men of the military, medical personnel, local government and state officials as well as members of the public.
He noted that the panel had its sitting in four different locations; Maiduguri in Borno State, Damaturu, Adamawa and Abuja respectively.
In his speech, NHRC ES,Dr.Tony Ojukwu after receiving the report said, the panel was set up in accordance with Section 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act 2010, as amended, as a response to the grave allegations contained in the Reuters report.
While thanking the 7-man panel for a job well-done, Ojukwu said the report called for clarity action as well as highlighted the urgent need for transparency in security operations in the country as well as the need to protect citizens from impunity.
He also thanked partners and stakeholders including UNICEF and other UN bodies in Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, the Attorney Generals of Borno and Yobe States, the UN High Commission on Refugees, Norwegian Embassy, Canadian Embassy, Nigerian Air Force, US Embassy, Nigerian Defence Headquarters, management and staff of NHRC and the media for their contributions and sacrifices during the period of the panel’s work.
While reading the panel’s reports ,Mr Hilary Ogbonna, Special Adviser to NHRC ES,who is also the Secretary to the panel said;
“The Panel finds out that there is no sufficient evidence to establish the allegations that the Nigerian military rounded up and killed children by the waterhole in Kukawa.
“There is compelling evidence to show that there were no civilians in Kukawa at the time of the alleged attack by the Reuters report, as the area was largely uninhabitable.
““There is no evidence to support the reconstruction done by Reuters of “the massacre and the events that led up to it based on five separate accounts
“ There is no evidence to show that the Nigerian military targeted children because they were Boko Haram offsprings.
“There is no evidence to establish the allegation that the Nigerian military burnt, suffocated or administered illegal substances to children leading to their deaths as alleged in the report.
“The Panel finds that there is no evidence to support the allegation that the Nigerian military engaged in “Operation No Living Things” as a strategy during the Counter-Insurgency Operations in the Nortt-East.
“ There is no evidence to establish that the Nigerian military engaged in the massacre of children at the waterhole or other locations in Kukawa, Borno State. And there is no evidence also to prove that the Nigerian Army massacred children and other populations in Gasarwa
“The Panel finds that there is no evidence to establish that the Nigerian military engaged in the massacre of Children and other populations in New Marte in 2021 as alleged by the Reuters report.
“The Panel finds that there is evidence to establish that the Nigerian military attacked the Abisari community on 18th June 2016, leading to the death of 18 people, including women and children.
“The Panel finds that there is no evidence to prove that Nigerian Army Commanders ordered soldiers to shoot and kill children because they collaborated with Boko Haram insurgents.
“The Panel finds that there is no evidence to prove that the Nigerian Army killed children while searching for suicide bombers in Alagarno.
“The Panel finds that there is no evidence that women and girls died as a result of illegal or forced abortions by the Nigerian military in the North-East.
“The Panel finds no evidence to substantiate the allegation that NGOs had knowledge of, or masterminded programs on abortions in the North-East as alleged by W099 Lieutenant,” the report concluded.
However, the panel recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria, the payment of compensation to the victims of the killings in Abisare in Marte Local Government. The Panel further recommends that this payment be made within 90 days of the receipt of this report.
The Panel also urged the National Human Rights Commission to work out a compensation regime and recommend the same to the Federal Government of Nigeria within a period of 30 days from the receipt of this report, among other recommendations.
