The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC and other stakeholders have converged on Abuja at the headquarters of the Commission, to examine preliminary findings by the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violation in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North East Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, while welcoming those in attendance said the Commission, haven considered the gravity of the allegations levelled against the military by Reuters, a foreign media platform, decided to swiftly set up the panel to probe the veracity or otherwise of the allegations.
It would be recalled that the Reuters report alleged that women, especially those at the IDP camps, were forced to commit abortions, involving up to 10,000 women, in addition to other human rights abuses.
Chief Tony Ojukwu therefore urged stakeholders present to be open-minded in their interaction in order to help the Commission achieve its set objective of finding the truth out of the allegations.
Apart from the Chairman of the Panel, the Hon. Justice Abdul Aboki, JSC rtd, other members of the panel are in attendance.
The interaction also attracted lots of members of the international community including the US embassy, representatives of the UN Children Emergency Fund, FIDA, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Medical Association, Civil Society Organisations and others.
Details later….