No fewer than four senior military officers have absolved the army over allegations levelled against it by Reuters.
The officers, including three generals and a major spoke separately on Wednesday, 10th of May, 2023 at the Special Independent Investigation Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East held in Abuja.
Indeed, Major General Hassan Umaru (rtd) a former theater commander noted that the way Nigeria Army is structured does not allow any personnel to carry out any action without the knowledge of his colleagues.
Similarly, erstwhile theater commander in Maiduguri, Borno state, Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas echoed the position of General Umar, saying my responsibility then was to “Defeat Boko Haram”.
Major General Benson Akinroluyo, also a former theater Commander/General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Division, Jos, Plateau state, was emphatic that there was no case of assaults on women by soldiers during his command, stressing that no medical outreach was conducted.
Commenting on alleged poisoning and killing of children, General Hassan Umar said “I feel very pained, while in the theater of operation there was never a time, we experienced what you have analyzed, the Nigerian Army is designed to help whoever is in difficulty, normally when we sit down with our officers, we bring up situation report hourly, weekly then the headquarters will give us directives of what to do.
“May be Reuters were thinking of a different country and not the Nigerian Army”, Umar said.
However, speaking at the 7-Member panel chaired by Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd), a witness of the Nigerian Army, Major Kehinde Sewedo Avoseh denied allegations of killing of civilians by soldiers in Kukawa, Borno state, saying that soldiers took it as their responsibility to protect civilians, adding that there was no need for soldiers to act in an unprofessional manner even when they were provoked by the insurgents.
When General Akinroluyo wasprodded by the Secretary of the panel, Mr. Hilary Ogbonna if he could vouch for all his subordinates during the operation, he answered in affirmative, “I am their commander, such infractions only exist in their imagination”.
“Army has a system of checkbacks. Until there is such an incident, you trust they will do what you ask them to do”, he affirmed.
On the alleged shooting of civilians at the back, Akinroluyo added “I never gave any instruction like that and nobody gave me such instruction. We were after those who bear arms and we are conversant with international humanitarian laws”.
