Alleged mass abortion: Nigerian army chief testifies as Human Rights Commission continues investigation

The Nigerian military has officially dismissed a Reuters report of alleged mass abortions carried out by the military on victims of Boko Haram terrorism in the northeast.

Army Chief of Staff Farouk Yahaya issued the denial on Saturday in Abuja while testifying before a panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate the matter.

The panel is officially known as the Special Independent Investigative Panel into Human Rights Violations in the Implementation of Counterinsurgency Operations in the Northeast (SIIP-Northeast) .

Mr. Yahaya, a lieutenant general, said the army's key objective was to fight insurgents and restore peace to the troubled region. He therefore could not have embarked on the secret abortion program alleged in the Reuters report.

He denied the Reuters report on the abortion of 10,000 pregnancies, the massacre of children and other allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against the army.

He challenged the international media to back up his claims.

Although Nigerian military authorities issued a statement to deny the story, Saturday was the first time Mr. Yahaya would publicly react to the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that Reuters, in an investigative report published in December 2022, alleged that the Nigerian military was carrying out a secret program, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of women who had been freed from Boko terrorists Haram in the Troubled Region.

He reported that the Nigerian military since 2013 has carried out “a secret, systematic and illegal abortion program in the northeast of the country, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls” which were kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants.

The report sparked global outrage with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling on the Nigerian government to initiate a full investigation and "immediate corrective action and accountability measures".

Responding to the call, on February 7, the NHRC set up a Board of Inquiry to investigate the allegations.

Specifically, the panel is mandated to investigate allegations of forced mass abortions of pregnant women by Nigerian army troops, as revealed in the Reuters investigation last December.

The investigation committee is chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge, Abdu Aboki.

In his testimony Saturday at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja, the Army Chief of Staff called the Reuters report a fictional 'novel'

Mr. Yahaya accused Reuters of playing a script to diminish the army's "success" in fighting the insurgency that has left thousands dead and millions displaced.

"We succeed and few are happy that we succeed, they can't reverse our success so they spoil it. Sometimes they play other people's scripts. We are not Boko Haram terrorists, we are trained to be professionals and the training is continuous,” the army chief added.

He said the military operated under the rule of law as its activities were monitored by the NHRC and the public.

Speaking further, he said: "Maybe they don't know that we are operating under the government. The National Human Rights Commission follows what is done in the army and what we do is an internal operation; we operate within our country. The military is the Nigerian military and we are not like Boko Haram which does not operate under a code of conduct."

"Furthermore, caution is planted in our heads that...