Crime
It was unthinkable to alleged Nigerian soldiers aborted 10,000 pregnancies- Former Theatre Commander

It was unthinkable to alleged Nigerian soldiers aborted 10,000 pregnancies- Former Theatre Commander
By: Michael Mike
The former theatre Commander of Operation Lafia Dole in the North East, Major General Olusegun Adeniyi has refuted Reuters’ reports of abortion of 10,000 pregnancies, infanticide and other forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) against the Nigeria military, saying that it is thoughtless as a bunch of lies.
The witness who stated this in his oral testimony before the 7-Member panel Chaired by Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd) wondered why it is only Reuters as a media organisation that was privy to the said grave human rights violations and atrocious crimes allegedly committed by the Nigeria Armed Forces in the counter insurgency operations in the North East.
Adeniyi, who is presently the Director Directorate of Counter Terrorism at the Army Research Centre, said how possible is it that of all the various News Agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations, International Partners etc, it is only Reuters that publish this kind of report.
Responding to the first part of the three-tier report which focused on systematic, illegal and secret abortion programme in the North East by the military since 2013, the senior military officer said, “In Africa we don’t do such things, you will not say that because soldiers are keeping custody of these returning women you now give them injection so that the babies in their womb will be aborted.”
On the issue of Boko Haram children allegedly killing terminating pregnancies and “deleting children” believed to have been fathered by Boko Haram insurgents on the premise that they will grow into another generation of Boko Haram and carry arms against the State, Adeniyi rhetorically asked, “What is the meaning of Boko Haram babies?”
Testifying further, he disclosed that solders are not angry that they are fighting Boko Haram insurgency because they are doing their work otherwise let some of these girls whose pregnancies were reportedly terminated by soldiers come out clear and say so, that will help the panel and indeed everyone to know the truth.
According to the erstwhile Brigade Commander 37 artillery Brigade Maiduguri, Borno state it is sad that somebody clutching a cup of tea in his cozy and air-conditioned room will decide to write this kind of report that has no bearing with the situation on ground.
“The allegation that Nigerian military terminated women pregnancies is not true. Things don’t just happen in the Army. Before anything happens, resources are committed, directives are given and those asked to carry out some actions report back. Secondly if such things happen soldiers will talk among themselves or at least gossip about them. These women I hope they are alive let them come out and say this is what happened to me”, he stated..
He added that: “The military is open in what it does except in rare circumstances like operations and timing of operations, however, even the things that military is keeping open people will say it is secret. If the military buys ammunitions it is on the pages of newspapers even in the USA it is so. You will not coordinate any operation in the Army without the knowledge of the higher echelon. So the issue of troops acting outside the rules is not permitted in the Army otherwise they will be court martialled.”
Speaking further, he stated that such magnitude of infractions alleged against the military if they actually happened, they would have been in the government records and archives and people must know because there is nothing so secretive in the Nigerian Army.
“Since 1999 the military has been strictly subordinated by the democratic process therefore it will not be possible for anyone to do anything and nobody will know and administering 10,000 injections to this number of women to terminate pregnancies must be recorded somewhere.”
Besides, he recalled that even in the past most of the allegations against the Nigeria Armed Forces normally come up when the State is overpowering the insurgents, adding that it is treasonable for any soldier to commit such offences as claimed by Reuters.
He noted that: “An average Nigerian soldier is above 18 years and I did not see any Medical Officer risking his medical certificate by aborting pregnancies. These women are kidnapped after shooting and killing their family members by Boko Haram and thereafter keep them under forced protective custody even though it is wrong, so why will soldier now kill the children of such women or terminate their pregnancies.”
He said that the soldiers already know that marriage existing between the insurgents and the affected women is forced and illegal and as such would not want to subject them to further trauma by killing their children or terminating their pregnancies.
“Nobody is thinking that these women are in love with their so called Boko Haram husband and the soldiers know very well that this man is keeping these women with the use of gun thereby risking their lives because these women were not married legally”, he stated.
He, however, conceded that where there are a large number of people there will be bad eggs stressing there is no policy in the military that will permit killing of innocent civilians. “While I am not vouching for anyone there are processes that will make it impossible for you to commit such crimes”, he maintained.
The former Theatre Commander said that if the soldiers are interested in killing anyone from the camp of insurgents who are now in custody they would have started with the Boko Haram members in Army custody instead of women and children who were not bearing arms.
He said that many of the Boko Haram members who sustained injuries before they were captured are still receiving medical treatment from military hospitals and no soldier has harmed them because it is against the law to kill any combatant upon capture since he did not die in the frontline.
In furtherance of his oral evidence, he told the panel that Nigerian soldiers are not revengeful and are not wild or wired with wrong ideologies to act in such a manner that will undermine the rights of women and children in the course of military operations.
It was unthinkable to alleged Nigerian soldiers aborted 10,000 pregnancies- Former Theatre Commander
Crime
11 kidnapped Benue Links passengers rescued in Okpokwu

11 kidnapped Benue Links passengers rescued in Okpokwu
By: Zagazola Makama
Eleven passengers abducted from a Benue Links commercial bus have been safely rescued in a forest near Ondo village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.
Zagazola Makama recalls that the passengers were kidnapped on June 22 while travelling along the Otukpo–Enugu highway in a Benue Links Hummer bus.
Security sources reliably confirmed that the victims were freed on June 29 following sustained search operations by the security forced supported by local vigilance groups and the Benue State Civil Protection Guard.
Credible intelligence reportedly indicated that the kidnappers were moving the captives through a bush path around Ondo village in Ugbokolo. In response, the rescue teams swiftly mobilised and launched a coordinated search operation in the area.
After several hours of intense combing of the forest, the victims were found alive and safely evacuated to Ugbokolo town, where they were provided immediate care.
The rescued individuals were identified as Bam Joseph, Doom Terhile, Uju Mercy, Ashika Linda, Atule Ladi, Undia Iveren, Terfa Kwshdoo, Akume Hembadoon, Ikpeen Msendoo, Mlumun Hurt, and Philip Igbuan.
One of the victims, Philip Igbuan, suffered a deep machete wound to the head inflicted by the kidnappers and was immediately taken to the General Hospital in Ugbokolo for medical treatment.
The freed passengers have since been debriefed by the Police and Benue Links has arranged transportation to help them reach their original destinations and reunite with their families.
According to accounts from the victims, their abductors were heavily armed and are suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
11 kidnapped Benue Links passengers rescued in Okpokwu
Crime
Four police officers killed in ambush by suspected herdsmen in Benue

Four police officers killed in ambush by suspected herdsmen in Benue
By: Zagazola Makama
Atleast four mobile police officers attached to the 12 Police Mobile Force (PMF) unit were killed following an ambush by suspected armed herdsmen in Udei village, Guma Local Government Area.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the officers were on special duty when they came under heavy fire on June 29 while responding to a distress call.
The sources said that the officers were alerted around 2:00 p.m. that a large group of armed men, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, were advancing toward Udei village with a herd of cattle.
“The attackers had approached the vicinity of the primary school in Udei, which serves as a base for the deployed PMF 12 personnel. As the officers moved to intercept them, they were ambushed and attacked with heavy gunfire,” the report stated.
Four officers tragically lost their lives in the attack, and their service weapons were reportedly carted away by the assailants. The deceased officers were identified as: Insp. Samuel Bisalla, Insp. Emmanuel Bitrus, Insp. John Sunday and Insp. Kenneth Gabriel
Two other personnel, ASP Jacob Elisha and Insp. Zakari Bangajiya sustained injuries and was rushed to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, for medical attention. They are said to be responding to treatment after suffering from exhaustion and shock.
The corpses of the fallen officers have been deposited at the hospital morgue for preservation and medical examination.
In response to the attack, special tactical units and a reinforced team equipped with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) have been deployed to Udei and the Daudu Divisional Headquarters to forestall further incidents and restore calm in the area.
Four police officers killed in ambush by suspected herdsmen in Benue
Crime
Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports

Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports
…72-year-old Grandma, Beninese, Ithers Nabbed in NDLEA Raids in Delta, Kwara, Lagos
By: Michael Mike
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a former football player Segun George Hunkarin along with his businessman partner Ntoruka Chinedu over attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
According to a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, Chinedu who is a frequent flyer known for conveying clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was the first to be arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport last Tuesday, when his carry-on bag was searched, 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grammes were seen to be concealed therein.

Babafemi said investigation showed that the suspect was coming from Turkey on Ethiopian Airlines flight but transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he collected the luggage from another person before heading to Nigeria.
He said further checks revealed that an accomplice who turned out to be the former professional footballer, Segun Hunkarin, was waiting for Chinedu at the airport carpark to collect the consignment from him. Hunkarin who had stayed years in Brazil playing for football clubs was promptly tracked and arrested at the carpark.

In his statement, Hunkarin was said to have claimed that while playing professional football in the South American country, he had only trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia but has never brought any to Nigeria.
Another Europe based businessman Amen Okoro was last Friday arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg packaged as known malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem and Aluktem to Spain.
He was intercepted at the departure hall of terminal 2 of the airport during the outward clearance of passengers on Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain through Casablanca.

Babafemi said Okoro, who is into freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, claimed that on his arrival in Spain, he would have taken a train to France where he resides and from there send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives last Friday intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique based bar attendant Ezenwaka Chibuzor. A search of his luggage led to the discovery of 17 cardboard size parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.500 kilogrammes and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilogrammes.
He revealed that the 38-year-old suspect was coming from Johannesburg, South Africa via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was interdicted and subjected to a search during which the illicit drugs concealed in bedsheets packed in his bags were discovered.
He noted that another passenger on board the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, 54-year-old Azu Kpodar was also intercepted at the Enugu airport by NDLEA operatives. When Azu, who arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was searched, a liquid soap plastic container marked YPE, was discovered in his luggage. The substance was promptly taken for analysis at the NDLEA forensic and chemical laboratory, Enugu where the substance tested positive to cocaine.

The substance which turned out to be liquid cocaine weighed 1.250 kilogrammes, the
suspect who is a toy seller in Brinquedo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, claimed he purchased while shopping for his wedding ceremony in Nigeria.
NDLEA operatives at the Seme border area of Badagry in Lagos last Tuesday intercepted a 26-year-old Beninese Vode Jean-Luck while trying to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a strain of cannabis with a gross weight of 29.5 kilogrammes from Benin Republic into Nigeria.
In Kwara state, a notorious drug dealer Mary Oladele (a.k.a Iya Nafi) was arrested last Wednesday when NDLEA operatives raided her base in Omu-Aran in Irepodun local government area of the state where various quantities of skunk, tramadol and flunitrazepam were recovered from her.
Babafemi said a 72-year-old grandma Mrs. Christy Ejaro was last Tuesday arrested by NDLEA operatives at Niger CAT area of Warri, Delta state, with several sachets of skunk packaged in retail size recovered from her.
The spokesman said the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Delta, Kwara, and Seme commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports
-
News1 year ago
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions3 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
Opinions4 years ago
POLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
News1 year ago
EYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
Columns1 year ago
Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
ACADEMICS1 year ago
A History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Opinions1 year ago
Tinubu,Shettima: The epidemic of economic, insecurity in Nigeria
-
Politics3 weeks ago
2027: Why Hon. Midala Balami Must Go, as Youths in Hawul and Asikira/Uba Federal Constituency Reject ₦500,000 as Sallah Gift