Boko Haram: Defence Hqts To probe Allegations Of Human Rights Abuse Against Soldiers

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Friday, April 4th, 2014

Kayode Adelowokan

The Nigeria Ministry of Defence has vowed to investigate allegations of human right abuse and war crime in the northeast leveled against it by the Amnesty International.

The rights group on Monday accused both the insurgent group, Boko Haram and the armed forces of war crimes and extra-judicial killing in its report entitled: “Nigeria: More than 1,500 killed in Armed Conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria in early 2014.”

This is credited to a statement on Friday by the Director, Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, who explained that the investigation would enable it take necessary action to address any case of human right breach on the part of troops.

Olokolade noted that the report was a new dimension to the well-known fact that the security operation in the North East was necessitated by the need to address the gross abuse of human rights being perpetrated against Nigerians by the terrorists.

The Director of Defence Information maintained that the detention facilities had been visited by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) including International Committee of the Red Cross and others to verify the conditions of detainees.

“This is even in the face of destruction of relevant amenities by the terrorists who have burnt down prisons, courts and government facilities in that part of the country in the course of their ceaseless attacks,” he said.

The Ministry of Defence however described the rights group’s allegation as quite confounding and said the report was not consistent with the actual situation on ground.

The Ministry therefore reassured Nigerians that while carrying out the mandate of ridding the country off any act of terrorism, necessary efforts would continue to be made to respect the fundamental rights of all citizens.