The the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency in the North East, on Friday, submitted its final report to the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC.

The panel was inaugurated in February 2023 by the NHRC following report by Reuters reports which named several incidences of abuses on citizens allegedly committed by officers and men of the Nigerian military.

Reuters had alleged that the military committed abuses like forced abortions on women, saying victims were as many as 10,000. Other abuses include torture, rape, extra-judicial killings, abductions and illegal detention, among others.

In the report, the panel said most of the allegations allegations levelled against the military were false, including forced systemic abortions administered on women in the affected areas.

It indicted Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF of conducting illegal abortions on women in the North East, adding that Reuters ignored such infractions by MSF and some other non-governmental organisations.

The panel said it was unbelievable that the International Committee of the Red Cross, an organisation that oversees issues of human rights could refuse to appear to testify and provide relevant information to unravel the truth on such grave allegations.

It however that the military committed infanticide, the killing of infants in Barte community of Borno State.

The panel said some non-governmental organisations committed a lot of infractions in the North East whole disguising as community based organisations and pointed directly Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF for operating clinics where illegal abortions were administered on women.

In his opening remark, the chairman of the 7-man panel, Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd) thanked the Commission for setting up the panel aimed at getting the truth or otherwise of the allegations contained in the Reuters report.

He noted that the panel worked without any form of interference from the NHRC or any other government agency in the country

Giving details, Hillary Ogbonna, Secretary of the panel, said the report is in three volumes made up of main reports, summary of report and graphics.

He said the panel sat for 12 weeks spread across 12 months, with 199 witnesses making appearance before the panel, made up of military generals, officers and men of the military, medical personnel, local government and state officials and members of the public.

According to him, the panel sat in four different locations which are Maiduguri in Borno State, Damaturu, Adamawa and Abuja.

Speaking after receiving the report, the Executive Secretary of the Nation’s Human Rights Commission, Dr.  Tony Ojukwu, SAN, thanked the panel for the efforts put in the investigation which he said started in 2023.

He said the panel was set up in accordance with Sec. 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act 2010, as amended, as a response to the grave allegations contained in the Reuters report.

Ojukwu said the reports calls for clarity action as well as highlights the urgent need for transparency in security operations in the country as well as the need to protect citizens from impunity.

Ojukwu thanked partners and stakeholders including UNICEF and other UN bodies in Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, the Attorney Generals of Borno and Yobe States, the UN High Commission on Refugees, Norwegian Embassy, Canadian Embassy, Nigerian Air Force, US Embassy, Nigerian Defence Headquarters, management and staff of NHRC and the media for their contributions and sacrifices during the period of the panel’s work.

Details later…..