Lucky Irabor, chief of defence staff, says the forced
abortions allegation against the Nigerian army came to him as a rude shock.
Irabor spoke on Friday when he testified before the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) investigative panel.
The panel was inaugurated to probe the report by Reuters on
alleged human rights violations in counter-insurgency operations in the
north-east.
Irabor said the claims were strange, adding that the army did not stigmatise children fathered by the Boko Haram terrorists in the region.
He said the army officers reportedly interviewed in the
publication would be granted immunity to testify, adding that they should be
brought before the panel.
“The allegations came as a ‘rude shock to me. It is a rude
shock to me that someone could orchestrate such a report,” NAN quoted Irabor as
saying.
“There are strange allusions, if they say we want to stop
regeneration of Boko Haram children, on what grounds.
“We are not
responsible for the stigmatization of the women bore children for Boko Haram
insurgents, we don’t know them.
“Who are the officers, I will give them immunity to come and
testify before the panel on what they have alleged.
“Throughout my I stay as a commander, I never heard of who
are referred as wives of Boko Haram insurgents.
“I never witnessed it, it is a strange allusion to the
arrangement within the armed forces. We have disciplined procedures, if the
officer saddled with a responsibility did not report how do I know?
“The military
facility under my control is open. There is nothing secretive going on there.
“Whoever will disparage the men and women of the armed forces who have put their lives in the forefront, is doing a damage.”
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