Major General Abdulwahab Eyitayo on Tuesday told the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Counter Insurgency Operations in North East that he knows nothing about alleged assault of communities leading to the death of children or other civilians during the period of insurgency in the North East.
The panel was set up by the National Human Rights Commission to investigate Human Rights abuses allegedly committed by the Nigerian military while fighting Insurgency in the North East as contained in a report published by Reuters.
General Eyitayo said the troop under his command in Borno state in 2015 acted professionally in the course of operations and noted that the area of their operations in places like Kukawa, Konduga and Baga, were far away from residential areas, and that allegations of attacks on civilian could not have arisen.
In his oral testimony while being led by the Secretary of the panel, Mr. Hilary Ogbonna, the military top Officer said deployment was designed to be at the “outskirt” where troop will have the opportunity to stop the insurgents from coming to attack the civilians.
He said- “There is no way the soldiers who are protecting these civilians will turn round to attack them for any reason.”
Eyitayo who is currently serving at the Defense Base, Lugbe, Abuja recalled how troop under his command escorted civilians to their farms to ensure their safety when the Boko Haram fighters were stopping them on the way on random, and demanding taxes from them.
In Reuters allegation of abortion assaults which claimed that 10,000 pregnancies were illegally and forcefully aborted by the Nigerian Army as part of its systematic approach towards fighting insurgency in the North East, he said that they never provided medical assistance to the civilians whom he noted do not have any business coming where the troop were.
The former GOC 7 Division also informed the 7- Member panel chaired by Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd) that under his command there used to be media briefings from time to time so that members of the public will be kept abreast of the operations of the military in the North East.
He added that the Army has a human rights desk in 7 Division and the press briefing provided a good platform to clarify issues arising from any complaints that are brought before the human rights desk.
Also defending himself before the panel, Colonel Yakubu Ibrahim who was 22 Brigade commander in Borno state said he only heard about Reuters report, saying that during his time in the state, the troop under his command did not make use of firepower because they hardly met the insurgents during clearance operations.
He told the panel that they did not engage in rescuing or managing civilians but only assisted the communities, especially those who did not have food because of the displacements occasioned by the insurgency.
He also confirmed before the panel that troop carried out medical outreaches with the assistance of Borno state and non-governmental organizations working in the state, pointing out that they never treated civilian, let alone pregnant women.
“Our area of responsibility is Machina, Nguru, Gasua and one other LGA (with other units) and I have four LGA in my area of responsibility. I did not make use of fire power because at that time “we did not encounter insurgents”.
“I was in New Marte as at 2020 and there was no human beings there except the fighters. In Dikwa there were people there, it is a local government. I had a battalion in Dikwa who made sure insurgents did not infiltrate that town. I visited Dikwa as operations demand,” he said.