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The Deputy Commander of Operation Hadin Kai.Major General Koko Akamba Isoni, assured the panel of the military maximum cooperation.
By Raphael Ekpang
The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights violations in the counter insurgency operations in the North East (SIIP-NE) on Wednesday stormed the Theatre Command Headquarters of Operation Hadin Kai in Maiduguri, Borno state.
The panel which was inaugurated on Tuesday by the Executive Secretary of the NHRC Tony Ojukwu (SAN) was in Maiduguri to solicit the cooperation of the Command towards unraveling the truth in the allegations of rights violations against the Nigerian military.
However, the Deputy Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Koko Akamba Isoni, while assuring the panel of the command’s maximum cooperation noted that the military will not be distracted by such allegations.
Also, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Major General Waidi Shaibu added that the military will provide all the necessary information in its custody to ease the task of the panel.
He further noted that the military has done a lot in the protection of the lives of civilian populace affected by insurgency in the North East region.
It could be recalled that in December 2021, the Nigerian Armed Forces came under serious allegations of abortion of pregnancies, infanticide and other forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) by Reuters, a foreign media organisation.
Consequently the NHRC constituted a special independence investigative panel with specific terms of reference to conduct thorough investigation into the allegations.
The panel chaired by a retired Supreme Court Justice, Justice Abdu Aboki commenced their assignment with a visit to the Theatre Command Operation Hadin Kai as part of its fact finding mission which among other things entails hearing from the operations officers, members of the public, and visiting military facilities including hospitals, rehabilitation centres, etc.
Earlier, the chairman of the panel, Justice Aboki told the Officers of the Theatre Command that the visit is part of the panel’s inquiry into allegations of human rights violations made against the military.
Similarly, the NHRC Boss who accompanied members of the panel during the visit said the military’s cooperation is highly needed to clear the air and establish the true position of things regarding the said allegations.
