Already, the commission said it would Tuesday, February 7 2023, inaugurate a Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Implementation of Counter Insurgency Operations in the North-East.
Ojukwu in a statement issued by the Deputy Director (Public Affairs and External Linkages), Fatimah Agwai Mohammed, stated that the panel will among other things “focus on investigating the Reuters report which alleged that the Nigerian military was involved in abortion of many pregnancies in the North-East in the last 10 years.”
Members of the panel are retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Abdu Aboki, (Chairman); Ms Kemi Okonyedo (representing women rights organisations); Azubuike Nwankenta (representing the Nigerian Bar Association); a military law and intelligence expert, Major-General Letam Wiwa (retd.);
Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, Dr Maisaratu Bakari; humanitarian expert (representing civil society), Dr. Fatima Akilu and psychologist (representing youths), Ms Halima Nuradeen.
The PUNCH reported that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, had on on Friday, December 17 2023, during a visit to the commission demanded an investigation into the Reuters report.
Also, a coalition of over 228 women’s rights organisations under the aegis of Womanifesto, had requested an investigation of the reported forced abortion of at least 10,000 pregnancies among rescued women and girls, although the military had denied it.
The convener of Womanifesto and Executive Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, made the demand in a statement issued in Abuja, with a call on the Federal Government to institute a panel of inquiry.
