Panel absolves military of forced abortions, indicts soldiers over death of children in north-east

An independent investigation committee set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has cleared the military of an allegation that it conducted forced abortions on thousands of women in the north-east.

However, the panel indicted some soldiers for setting ablaze a woman and three children in Borno state in 2016.

The incident occurred in Marte LGA of the north-eastern state.

The findings of the committee led by Abdu Aboki, a former supreme court justice, was sequel to reporting that the military forced women to have at least 10,000 abortions between 2013 and 2021.

Speaking during a presentation of the report in Abuja on Friday, Hilary Ogbonna, secretary of the panel, said the investigative committee found out that a non-governmental organisation (NGO) conducted abortions of women in north-east during the aforementioned period.

“For the abortion assault, the panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces committed a systematic, secret or policy driven abortions in north-east to the tune of 10,000,” Ogbonna said.

“There was no evidence before the panel to prove that.

“For smother and poison, the panel did not find the military culpable for the massacre of children, but the panel found the military culpable of infabticide and the killing of community members in a village in Marte LGA of Borno on the 16th of June 2016.

“We recieved witness testimonies of that of survivors – you will find all of these in the report.”

The panel’s secretary said they interviewed 199 witnesses to get testimonies to arrive at their findings and conclusion.