CDS faces panel again over allegation of multiple abortions

[ad_1]

THE Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS), Lucky Irabor, has again refuted Reuters’ claim against the Nigerian military that it performed forced abortions on civilians in the northeast.

Irabor also said the allegations of human rights abuses against the army were baseless.

The CDS spoke on Friday May 12 before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Inquiry Committee into rights abuses in counter-insurgency operations by the military in the North East .

The NHRC inaugurated the panel on February 8, 2023, following allegations of gross human rights abuses in the three-part report Reuters published in December 2022 on military operations in the North East.

“The allegations came as a complete shock to me. It comes as a shock to me that someone could orchestrate such a report.

“There are strange hints; if they say we want to stop the regeneration of Boko Haram children, on what grounds? He asked.

Irabor claimed that the army was not responsible for the stigmatization of women carrying children by Boko Haram insurgents.

On Reuters’ assertion that some officers he spoke to confirmed the abortion, Irabor said those officers should be brought before the panel.

“Who are the officers? I will give them immunity to come and testify before the panel on what they have alleged,” he said.

He told the panel that the Nigerian military operated in a hierarchical fashion, contrary to what Reuters said.

He claimed he had never witnessed a strange allusion to the arrangement within the armed forces.

“The military installation under my control is open. There is nothing secret in that. Anyone who denigrates the men and women of the armed forces who put their lives first is doing a disservice,” Irabor said.

ICIR had reported in December 2022 that a Reuters investigation had indicted the Nigerian military for performing illegal abortions on pregnant women who were victims of terrorism in the northeast.

According to the report, the Nigerian military was running a secret program that terminated at least 10,000 pregnancies without the consent of women kidnapped, raped or forcibly married to terrorists in the northeast.

Victims, including those as young as 12, were allegedly tricked into taking pills and injections that terminated their pregnancies under the false assurance that the drug was to restore their health.

“In some cases, women who resisted were beaten, caned, held at gunpoint or drugged to comply. Others were tied or pinched while abortive drugs were inserted,” the report said.

Reuters noted that military abortions were performed at numerous military and civilian facilities in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.

The Nigerian military has consistently refuted claims that it forcefully aborted around 10,000 pregnancies in the North East.

Irabor had previously, in March 2023, denied the claims made in the report, calling them “absurd and false”.

Journalist at ICIRA Journalist specialized in quality and promoter of good governance

[ad_2]