DHQ suspects Amnesty’s ties with Boko Haram

Rabe Abubakar, director of defence information, says but for the prestige of Amnesty International, he would have concluded that the organisation supports the insurgents in the north-east.

Abubakar was reacting to a report by the rights’ organisation where the army was alleged to have kept toddlers and young children in the Giwa barracks detention centre.

Describing the report as false, Abubakar warned against any act of distraction in the fight against insurgency.

“One can begin to wonder whether the international non- governmental organisation are really siding the non-state actors,” he told Channels Television.

“We cannot in anyway, dehumanise, traumatise or suffer our country men and women.”

Abubakar added that the military had not reached the conclusion that the human rights body had links with Boko Haram because it holds Amnesty International in high esteem.

He said the military has regards for the “sanctity of human lives and dignity”, and proves this in its dealings.

In the report titled: ‘If you see it, you will cry: Life and Death in Giwa barracks’, Amnesty detailed the abuse of human rights in the Giwa barracks detention centre.

Eleven children under the age of six, including four babies and 138 others, were said to have died under horrendous conditions.

The organisation said it gathered the evidence through interviews with former detainees and witnesses, supported by video and photos.

Amnesty called for the immediate closure of the detention camp.