UPDATED: Military Cleared Of Forced Abortion Allegations, Soldiers Indicted For Children’s Deaths In North-East

An independent panel established by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has exonerated the Nigerian military from allegations of conducting forced abortions on thousands of women in the north-east region.

In response to serious allegations raised in a Reuters investigation, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an independent agency appointed by the Nigerian government, convened a special panel in February 2023 to investigate the claims.

The NHRC’s inquiry involved thorough hearings conducted in Abuja and Borno State, areas heavily impacted by military actions against Islamist insurgents.

The Reuters report, published last year, alleged that the Nigerian military had operated a systematic abortion program targeting women impregnated by insurgents and had engaged in the killing of children as part of its anti-insurgency strategy.

The Nigerian military, however, firmly denied these allegations, calling them “unfounded and malicious.”

However, the committee found certain soldiers culpable for a tragic incident in 2016, where a woman and three children were allegedly burned to death in Borno State’s Marte Local Government Area.

Led by former Supreme Court Justice Abdu Aboki, the panel’s investigation followed reports suggesting the military had coerced women into undergoing at least 10,000 abortions between 2013 and 2021.

During the report’s presentation in Abuja on Friday, Hilary Ogbonna, the panel’s secretary, stated that their investigation found no evidence of a systematic or covert military policy responsible for approximately 10,000 abortions, as previously alleged.

Instead, Ogbonna noted that some abortions were conducted by a non-governmental organization active in the region during that 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.

“There was no evidence before the panel to prove that,” Ogbonna clarified.

However, the panel’s investigation did conclude that military personnel were responsible for certain violent actions in the Marte Local Government Area of Borno State.

Specifically, it found evidence of infanticide and the killing of several villagers during an incident on June 16, 2016.

Ogbonna explained that the committee’s findings were based on extensive testimonies, having interviewed 199 witnesses, including survivors who provided firsthand accounts.

“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,” Ogbonna added.

According to the panel’s secretary, the team interviewed 199 witnesses whose testimonies helped shape the final report.