The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, promised the immediate establishment of an implementation committee to review the findings and recommendations of a special panel of investigations into allegations of human rights violations committed by the Nigerian military during counter-insurgency in the North-east.
“My office will immediately establish an implementation committee to review the report and develop appropriate recommendations for execution.
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“The government remains steadfast in ensuring that justice prevails, and any necessary remedial action will be taken within the framework of the law,” Mr Fagbemi said during the report presentation at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja.
The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East, Nigeria (SIIP North-East) was set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) following a report by Reuters in 2022.
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The NHRC set up the seven-member panel headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki, in January 2023, following a December 2022 Reuters investigative report alleging that the Nigerian military ran a secret programme terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of freed captives of Boko Haram terrorists in the troubled North-east region.
Reuters alleged that many of the pregnancies resulted from the rape of the kidnapped women by Boko Haram fighters. The Nigerian military denied this allegation.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other respected voices called for a probe into the allegations, prompting the NHRC to set up the special investigative panel.
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After conducting investigations, the panel cleared the military of allegations of mass abortion contained in the Reuters investigative report.
However, the panel indicted the military of mass infanticide and other killings at Abisare in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, North-east Nigeria in 2016.
Speaking during the presentation of the report at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja on Tuesday, the head of the investigative panel, Mr Aboki, said the report contained critical recommendations that will “enhance Nigeria’s counter-insurgency operations while upholding human rights and strengthening our criminal justice system.”
He urged the AGF to implement the recommendations to reinforce the nation’s commitment to human rights, accountability, and the rule of law in military operations.
Recommendations by the Panel
The recommendation of the report included the payment of compensation to victims within 90 days of the receipt of the report, while the NHRC was to work out and recommend compensation to the federal government within 30 days.
Also, the panel urged the Nigerian Armed Forces to constitute a court martial to prosecute suspected officers, particularly men of the Defunct 8 Task Force Division, Monguno, who were part of the operation in Abisare, Marte Local Government of Borno State in June 2016 or other units of the Nigerian Armed Forces who were involved in the killings in the community.
The last recommendation was for the NHRC to refer both serving and retired officers suspected to be culpable in the killings to the AGF for prosecution.
NHRC needs to partner with the Ministry of Justice
Presenting the report to the AGF, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, stressed the need for collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Justice to implement the panel’s report.
Mr Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, highlighted the commission’s efforts at ensuring the implementation of the report to include visiting Maiduguri, Borno State, to present it to key players.
Also, in December 2024, the NHRC organised a Civil-Military Forum in Abuja for discussing practical steps for the implementation of the panel’s recommendation.
The NHRC chief noted that the work of the SIIP North-East has both local and international significance.
“Locally, it shows that the National Human Rights Commission is truly and fully independent and plays oversight on Nigeria’s institutions, including the Armed Forces and the Law Enforcement Agencies as far as human rights is concerned.
“On a global scale, it is a clear indication of Nigeria’s political will to investigate cases of grave human rights violations falling under the international principles of complementarity,” he said.
The panel’s investigation
SIIP North-East, which sat for nearly two years, released its findings in November 2024.
During its sittings, the panel heard 199 witnesses, comprising civilians and military personnel from Borno State – the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency – Adamawa and Yobe states. But the panel said Reuters, MSF, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) did notappear before the panel despite receiving an invitation.
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