By EDITH NWAPI

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is set to inaugurate a Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Implementation of Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East (SIIP-North East).

This is contained in a statement issued by the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, in Abuja.

He said that the panel will among other things focus on investigating the Reuters report which alleged that Nigerian Military was involved in abortion of many pregnancies in the North East in the last 10 years.

The international media organisation, he said, had alleged that the Military was involved in massacre of children as well as other Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the North East.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Military has refuted the allegations saying that it was a ploy to malign the image of the Nigerian Armed Forces which has been at the forefront of the counter insurgency efforts in the North East.

Ojukwu said the panel will be inaugurated on Feb. 7 at the Bukhari Bello Auditorium, NHRC Headquarters in Abuja.

Members of the panel, he said, are retired Justice Abdu Aboki, Supreme Court justice as Chairman, Ms Kemi Okonyedo, representing Women Rights Organisation, Mr Azubuike Nwankenta, representing NBA

Others are retired Maj.-Gen. Letam Wiwa, (Military Law and Intelligence Expert), Dr. Maisaratu Bakari (Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology (Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital Yola).

Others are Dr Fatima Akilu (Humanitarian Expert, representing Civil Society), and Ms Halima Nuradeen (Psychologist, representing Youths)

NAN reports that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, said: “It’s outright nonsense.

“Their allusion is news to me. It never occurred. I never saw anything like that from Maiduguri down to Maimalamari Cantonment where I lived that is a major hospital for our personnel and their family. I am disappointed to say the least. So it is not true”. (NAN)

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