The Borno Government on Friday told the panel investigating claims of human right abuses that military personnel were not allowed into camps housing rescued women and children.
The Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, told the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North East, sitting in Maiduguri.
The panel, headed by Justice Abdul Aboki (rtd), was constituted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) based on a Reuters’ report alleging human rights violations by the military.
The reports alleged that the military organised 10,000 illegal abortions and killing of children suspected to be fathered by Boko-Haram members between 2013 to 2019.
Gambo said that the duty of the military was to guard the camps from outside, adding that the Reuters’ report was a big surprise to the government.
“The women are emotionally attached to their husbands and the allegation that soldiers or other public servants could abort pregnancies of their beloved wives is unimaginable”, the commissioner added.
According to her, the husbands of the women had at one point said they would not want their wives to be attended to by men in case of any health challenge.
She wondered how such “jealous men” would allow anyone to touch their wives let alone abort their pregnancies.
Gambo explained that casualties recorded in the camps were those related to early childhood diseases like measles and diarrhea.
Also testifying before the panel, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Yusuf, Commandant Nigerian Defence Academy, described the Reuters report as a deliberate attempt to distract the military.
Yusuf who was a former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Maiduguri, pointing out that if there were such abortions and killings, the public would have spoken about it.
The commandant said the military is a regimented institution that pays particular attention to every detail in relating with people.
“When you throw away the rule of law, you have lost it, you cannot win the hearts and minds of the people you are protecting, they will also not trust you and it will be difficult for you to operate in their territory”, he said.
In his testimony, the state Solicitor General, Garba-Musa Chibok, urged the panel to also invite Reuters to testify.
Chibok said in 2013, the period referred to in the Reuters report, the state was in turmoil while the military was concerned about neutralizing terrorists.
“Tell me, in this situation who has time to think of anything like abortion?
“I am from Chibok and I am seriously affected by this problem, all the children rescued from the frontline are alive, I know them some of them are my relations, you can call them to come here and talk to you,” Chibok said. (NAN)
