Ministry To Investigate Amnesty International’s Allegations Of Human Right Abuse

Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence says it
will investigate Amnesty International’s
allegations of human right abuse and
war crime in the northeast.
The rights group had 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.”
In a statement on Friday, the Director,
Defence Information, Major General
Chris Olukolade, explained that the
investigation would enable it take
necessary action to address any case of
human right breach on the part of
troops.
Major General Olokolade pointed out
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.
Respect of Human Right
“It is noteworthy that despite the
peculiar asymmetric nature of the
security challenge, measures have been
put in place to ensure compliance with
tenets of human right and rules of
engagement by troops involved in the
conduct of the mission.
“Apart from inculcating the necessity for
observance of human rights in troops,
regular programmes have been
conducted to review the human rights
situation related to the conduct of the
operations.
“It is in this respect that most of those
apprehended in the counter-terrorist
operations are kept in custody,” it read.
Major General Olukolade stressed 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 described the
rights group’s allegation as quite
confounding and said the report was not
consistent with the actual situation on
ground.
It reassured Nigerians that while
carrying out the mandate of ridding the
country of any vestige of terrorism,
necessary efforts would continue to be
made to respect the fundamental rights
of all citizens.