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
Escalated ISWAP/Boko Haram Clashes Claim Over 100 Fighters
By: Zagazola Makama
Fierce rivalry clashes between Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) terror groups escalated in the Lake Chad Basin over the last one week, claiming over 100 of the fighters of both groups.
From April 18 to April 24, the clashes between Boko Haram factions and ISWAP flared up across the riverine islands of the Tumbums, with the ISWAP gaining more footholds and dislodging the Boko Haram rival factions.
Shortly after ISWAP received a fresh consignment of weapons from Mali, through Niger to Dogon Chukwu Kangarwa, it declared a renewed war, issuing a stern directive to its fighters to completely exterminate the members of the JAS Buduma Boko Haram factions on April 18.
Prior to the clashes, Boko Haram JAS has moved several fighters from upper parts of the riverine Niger to take defensive positions in Kukawa in Borno, while another sets of armed fighters were moved to the Nigeria- Cameroon borders, occupying Dawashi, Dabar Wanzam, Kiri Bulla in Kukawa as well as Lokobili and Kandahar in Cameroon.
On its parts, ISWAP mounted on 20 water vessels, conveying 130 fighters to Doron Kirta Wulgo near Nigeria- Cameroon. More ISWAP fighters arrived from Kwalaram, while others trooped in from Ngala and Marte, in preparation for the major encounter.
The clash, which erupted on April 19, at Garin Mallam Ya’u, and Mallam Karamti when ISWAP led by Commander Akilu, led to the killing of several Boko Haram fighters.
The ISWAP elements later seized six of JAS Boko Haram’s motorcycles and destroyed them in the process.
In another encounter, JAS elements swiftly cordoned and captured about 15 ISWAP members at Tumbum Abuja. The clash however did not last long and subsided immediately after the capture of the rival counterpart.
On the same day, ISWAP fighters stormed Tumbum Allura, in Kukawa LGA and killed several Boko Haram fighters. ISWAP, however, lost a few of its fighters in the process while forcing the surviving JAS fighters to flee.
The ISWAP fighters chased the fleeing Boko Haram fighters to the axis of Kariya and Koleram in Kukawa, which led to another gun battle.
Again, the ISWAP fighters overpowered the rival group and killed scores of the Boko Haram fighters, including a top Commander, Khaid Allayi Gana.
Seventy armed JAS Boko Haram men later returned to Garin Mallam Ya’u to bury its neutralized Mujahedeens, while counting its losses and licking its wounds.
The intensified rival clashes forced about 10 Boko Haram fighters to surrender with arms to the troops of Sector 4, Multinational Joint Task Force at Nguiguimi, Diffa region, Niger Republic.
Two other fighters surrendered to troops of Sector 3, Multi National Joint Task Force(MNJTF) in Monguno.
The JAS group, led by Ibrahim Bakura Doro aka Bakaura Buduma, has remained a formidable enemy of ISWAP ever since Shekau’s death. It has repeatedly attacked ISWAP positions around the lake.
The ISWAP, on the other hand, have upscaled efforts to reclaim its position taken control by the JAS group.
Both ISWAP and JAS have lost more fighters from rival clashes with each other since 2021 than in confrontations with government security forces.
The incessant, and ever worsening, clashes between ISWAP and Boko Haram has continued to provide ampler opportunities for government security forces to seize, to craft strategies to exterminate the two rival groups and stamp out the terror scorching the Lake Chad Basin.
Escalated ISWAP/Boko Haram Clashes Claim Over 100 Fighters
NSCDC Rescues 10 Suspected Victims of Human Trafficking in Abuja
By: Michael Mike
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has intercepted in Abuja 10 suspected victims of human trafficking, purportedly being sponsored for illegal migration abroad.
The victims were accosted at Zuba motor park, Abuja, by officers of the FCT command of the NSCDC, following a tip off on their return from Minna, Niger State, where they had gone to process their International passport as directed by their sponsor.
The victims whose age bracket was between 24 and 34 years, consisted of a male and nine females, and all claimed to be indigenes of Ondo State.
It was gathered that each of them paid N80,000 to facilitate the procurement of the International passport.
According to a statement on Monday by the spokesman of the FCT Command of the NSCDC, Samuel Idoko, the intercepted persons also confessed to being promised migration abroad to undertake ready made jobs, especially in North Africa and Canada by a yet to be identified sponsor who according to them, resides in Okitipupa, Ondo state.
While handing over the 10 suspected victims to the Nigeria Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), the FCT Commandant, Olusola Odumosu, warned Nigerians on the dangers of illegal migration abroad.
He said: “Be careful of the types of people that are promising you a better future abroad, don’t be desperate because, some of them end up ruining your lives .
“They deceive you and collect huge sums of money from you that there are ready made jobs, whereas, you may end up in slavery or forced to be sex workers.
“If you must travel abroad, follow the right channel that’ll give you rest of mind, don’t allow somebody to seize your international passport abroad, and place you under an oath that you’ll regret.”
The Commandant further stated that, the victims were handed over to NAPTIP being the agency in charge of human trafficking to carry out further investigations and actions within the ambit of the law.
NSCDC Rescues 10 Suspected Victims of Human Trafficking in Abuja
Boko Haram slaughter 27 fishermen in Cameroon
By: Zagazola Makama
No fewer than 27 fishermen were slaughtered and 3 others abducted by the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah
lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, Boko Haram terrorists group in the fringes of Lake Chad in the border between Cameroon- Nigeria.
It was gathered that terrorists suspected to be from the Buduma faction of Abou Ummaymah, attacked a local fishing community harboring most fishermen from Nigeria at Island Kofiya near Darak in the Republic of Cameroon.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that they asked them to lie down, tie their hands behind their backs before they started slaughtering them.
The sources said the terrorists also abducted four other fishermen after accusing them of spying for the ISWAP faction
The bodies of the fishermen were later recovered during a search and rescue operation by troops and their colleagues who received the news from victims who fled the attack scene.
Boko Haram slaughter 27 fishermen in Cameroon
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