The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, on Friday, declared that human rights violations allegations levelled against the Nigerian military by Reuters, were not only shocking but also spurious.
According to The PUNCH, Irabor said this when he appeared before the National Human Rights Commission investigative panel on rights violations in counter-insurgency operations by the5 military in the Northeast.
The CDS, who held various posts in the theatre of war in the North-East, including Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole and Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force told the panel that having been involved, there was no time he saw any abortion being carried out on women and girls to prevent regeneration of Boko Haram insurgents.
According to him, “I have been involved in the operation. I never saw any of sort abortions. It was a surprise to me for someone to orchestrate such a report.
Irabor said” The allegations came as a rude shock to me. It is a rude shock to me that someone could orchestrate such a report.
” There are strange allusions, if they say we want to stop the regeneration of Boko Haram children, on what grounds?
” We are not responsible for the stigmatization of the women who bore children by Boko Haram insurgents, we don’t know them,” he said.
Answering Reuters’ claims that it interviewed some officers who gave it such information about abortions, he said those officers should be brought to the panel.
” Throughout my stay as a commander, I never heard of who are referred to as wives of Boko Haram insurgents,” he said.
The commission inaugurated the panel on February 8, 2023, following the allegations of gross human rights violations contained in the three-part report published in December 2022 on military operations in the North-east by media group Reuters hence the panel.
