In this piece, BENJAMIN SAMSON examines allegations of child massacre and mass abortion by Reuters against Nigerian military in the North-east and its implications in the fight against terrorism.
An international news agency, Reuters, on Monday alleged that the Nigerian Army has been carrying out massacre of children in the war against terrorism.
The organisation said the report was based on the revelations of more than 40 soldiers and civilians who claimed to have witnessed the Nigerian military kill children or seen children’s corpses after a military operation.
Reuters claimed the estimated number of children killed by the Army was in the thousands, adding that it investigated six of the incidents in which at least 60 died.
In the report, one of the victims claimed that her children were killed because they belonged to terrorists.
The report read, “The massacre, previously unreported, is just one instance in which the Nigerian Army and allied security forces have slaughtered children during their gruelling 13-year war against Islamist extremists in the country’s northeast, a Reuters investigation found.
“Soldiers and armed guards employed by the government told Reuters that Army commanders repeatedly ordered them to ‘delete’ children because the children were assumed to be collaborating with militants in Boko Haram or its Islamic State offshoot or to have inherited the tainted blood of insurgent fathers.
“More than 40 sources said they saw the Nigerian military target and kill children or saw the dead bodies of children after a military operation. These sources, the report said, included parents and other civilian witnesses, as well as soldiers who said they participated in dozens of military operations in which children were slaughtered. Together, their estimates added up to thousands of children killed.”
Mass abortion
Likewise, earlier, Reuters in a separate investigation published on Wednesday last week, had accused the Nigerian Army of running a programme where forceful abortions were carried out on female victims of Boko Haram/Islamic State in West African Province.
The report claimed that the Army carried out the abortions without the persons’ consent and that at least 10,000 pregnancies had been illegally terminated.
The probe, according to Reuters, was based on the accounts of 33 victims, hospital staff, and security officials, as well as documents gathered.
The report partly read, “Since at least 2013, the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic, and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed by Reuters.
“The abortions were mostly carried out without the person’s consent, and often without their prior knowledge, according to the witness accounts. The women and girls ranged in age from a few weeks to eight months pregnant, and some were as young as 12 years old, interviews and records showed.
“This investigation is based on interviews with 33 women and girls who say they underwent abortions while in the custody of the Nigerian Army. Only one person stated that she freely consented.
“Reporters also interviewed five civilian healthcare workers and nine security personnel involved in the programme, including soldiers and other government employees such as armed guards engaged in escorting pregnant women to abortion sites.
“In addition, Reuters reviewed copies of military documents and civilian hospital records describing or tallying thousands of abortion procedures.”
The report quoted a guard and a health worker as saying women who resisted were beaten, caned, held at gunpoint, or drugged into compliance.
The investigation linked the abortion programme to a belief widely held within the military and among some civilians in the North-east that the children of insurgents are predestined, by the blood in their veins, to one day take up arms against the Nigerian government and society.
‘It’s blackmail, mercenary journalism’
However, in an interview with our correspondent, the Director, Defence Information, Major Genenral Jimmy Akpor, accused Reuters of an attempt to blackmail the Nigerian military through what it described as “mercenary journalism.”
He said, “Wickedness really runs in the veins of some people and it surely runs deep in the veins of the Reuters team that concocted such evil for interrogation.
“The fictitious series of stories actually constitute a body of insults on the Nigerian people and culture for no people or culture in Nigeria practices such evil as dreamt up by the Reuters team. Irrespective of the security challenges we face as a nation, Nigerian peoples and cultures still cherish life.
“Hence, Nigerian military personnel have been raised, bred and further trained to protect lives, even at their own risk especially, when it concerns the lives of children, women and the elderly.
“The Nigerian military will not contemplate such evil of running a systematic and illegal abortion programme anywhere and anytime and surely not on our own soil.
“The Nigerian military will not also deliberately plan to target children during its counterinsurgency operations or other operations, both within and outside Nigeria.
“The News Editor for Sub-Saharan Africa, Alexandra Zavis, remains in South Africa and concoct evil lies to insult Nigerian peoples and cultures with allegations of infanticide purportedly being sponsored and carried out by the military and civilian leaderships in North-east of Nigeria.
“The Reuters’ series of stories are akin to telling the world that Nigerians still live on top of trees.
“It now seems that the new stock in trade for Reuters is, ‘mining’ and selling lies to demonise the Nigerian military, Nigerian institutions and Nigerian leaderships,” he said.
CSOs kicks
Similarly, in a chat with our reporter, the President of North East Advocacy for Peace (NEAP), Abdul Monguno, a civil society organization (CSO), berated Reuters, in what he termed “plans to undermine Nigeria’s national security and truncate the new found peace in the North-east” through its reportage.
He described Reuter’s action as unethical and an attempt to use its medium to undermine national security.
“It is a shame that Reuters is now acting as agents for terrorists that have caused us pains; terrorists that sent us into internally displaced people’s (IDP) homes in our country. It is a shame that a group of people who caused us several years of backwardness can be defended by Reuters.
“Is Reuters aware of the several girl children forced into motherhood as a result of the activities of the insurgents? Is Reuters aware of our youths who have abandoned everything to become terrorists? Is Reuters aware of families who have been disjointed and some killed?
“We, NEAP and several other genuine organisations are in a better place to say what we have faced in the years that our region has been turned upside down. Reuters cannot speak for us.
“Instead of crucifying our military, they should be commended for the sacrifice made to restore peace and stability in our region.
“We use this opportunity to warn that the gradual return of peace as a result of ongoing operations should not be truncated by the ulterior motives of Reuters. Is Reuters alarmed that peace is gradually returning to our region?
“Is the media house aware of the several terrorists who have surrendered and genuinely repented of their former nefarious activities?
“The Nigerian military has been commended globally for peace keeping in places of unrest, Reuters is aware of this. Therefore, the negative report will not swear the minds of Nigerians, especially we the people of the region.
“We remain eternally grateful to our Armed Forces for ongoing military operations in the North East and the non-kinetic approach of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen LEO Irabor which is yielding massive successes,” he said.
… Report lacks basics of objectivity
Similarly, another CSO, Africa Centre for Human Rights and Protection, has rejected the report.
The centre described the report as “a propagation of falsehood that defeats logic and common sense.”
Addressing journalists in Abuja, , the Executive Director of the Centre, Fabian Nyiakula, claimed that after an extensive analysis of the report by Reuters, there are indications that the organisation had run out of ideas in castigating the Nigerian Army in its customary fashion.
He said: “The report lacked the basics of objectivity in news reportage, because it read like tales by moonlight and was probably a product of desk research without substance…”
“The narrative also smacks of gross ignorance of the role of the Nigerian Army in prosecuting the war against Boko Haram terrorists in North-east Nigeria.
“Reuters claimed that it interviewed 33 women and girls who were in the custody of the Nigerian Army in Borno state. While this is a defective sample size to draw such a hasty conclusion, it further highlights the mischief of Reuters, an agency that has lost focus and instead, delved into matters they are ignorant about.
“The Nigerian Army do not detain women and children victims of the Boko Haram onslaught. The puerile attempt by Reuters to paint the Nigerian Army in a bad light must have stemmed from the recent gains recorded in the prosecution of the war against terrorism, which by all indications, is not appreciated by the promoters of Reuters.
“For Reuters to assume that the abortion programme has been in operation since 2013, indicates that Reuters has elected to be clever by half.
“The implication of the Reuters’ action is that this imagined abortion programme went unnoticed by the hundreds of Non-governmental organisations working in North-east Nigeria, including reputable United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organisations that have assisted in significant measures in assisting victims of Boko Haram brutality on unarmed civilians.
“Reuters contradicted itself when it alluded that “Aspects of the Nigerian Army’s abortion programme remain murky. Because of the secrecy involved, it is impossible to know precisely, how many abortions were done. Interviews and documents suggest the count could be significantly higher than the tally of at least 10,000 cases that Reuters was able to establish.
“The question thus is how Reuters arrived at such a conclusion when it claimed that the report was based on 33 women and girls interviewed. This defeats common sense hence why the report should be discarded in its entirety for lacking in substance, but propaganda aimed at distracting the Nigerian Army in the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram terrorists in North-east Nigeria.
Noting that the diatribe against the Nigerian Army was petty and aimed at bouncing back to relevance after most of its reportage on Nigeria had been faulted or debunked for lacking evidence, Nyiakula urged Reuters to come to terms with the reality that Nigerians do not welcome or entertain half-truths.
“The plot is poor, the storyline is kindergarten, and the execution is puerile. It attempted in vain to present a precarious situation, but without realising that this new attempt at demonising the Nigerian Army is similar to previously failed enterprises”, he added.
…Fake, could hinder fight against terrorism
Likewise, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has described as fake news and disinformation a Reuters report accusing Nigerian Army of running a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the North-east since 2013.
Speaking Monday in Abuja at the 10th edition of the PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023), Mohammed said fake news and disinformation, if not checked, could have a negative impact on the nation’s fight against terrorism.
Describing the report as one without “a scintilla of evidence” which cited only anonymous sources and the reported review of phantom ‘documents,’ he said military operations in the North East were not arbitrary but based on the standard operating procedure and rules of engagement.
Mohammed said where there was any proven infraction or criminal act committed by any soldier, such personnel was never spared.”
Speaking further he said: “The federal government hereby categorically states that there is no ‘secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme’ being run by our military in the North East or anywhere across the country.
“We also hereby reject the accusation of running an abortion programme levelled against our military.
“For the record, the Nigerian military has rescued 11 Chibok girls with all their children; 2,018 other persons comprising 339 adult males, 660 adult females and 1019 children), while 82,645 persons; comprising 16,621 male fighters, 24,638 women and 41,386 children, have surrendered.
“The military has also neutralised 494 terrorists, note that this does not include terrorists neutralized through airstrikes and terrorists’ infighting.
“Why is this news agency not playing up this positive news but instead, they choose to give prominence to a phantom abortion story? Is this a ploy to demoralize and distract our fighting forces? Is it a strategy to set the world against Nigeria and cut off the support that is critical to crushing terrorists?”
Govt should investigate allegations
However, a human rights activist, Barrister Justine Akor, told our reporter that the federal government should investigate the allegations instead just condemning it.
He called on the international community to mount pressure on the federal government to investigate the allegations.
“I encouraged the government of Nigeria to take the allegations seriously and to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation.
“The stories in this report if true are heartbreaking and, if verified represent a large-scale, and deeply concerning, abuse of human rights.
“This is a deeply disturbing report. Nigerian government, and international communities, must investigate these troubling allegations. Swift action must be taken if anyone is found to have carried out this policy of murder and violation of rights.
“It is the responsibility of international community to ensure that their support of the Nigerian military does not aid human rights abuses and we expect the government to take these allegations seriously.
“The international communities must stand with these victims and ensure that those involved in planning and carrying out this heinous abuse are held to account. Such forced abortions constitute gender-based violence that may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
“Nigeria as a State party to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is responsible for acts of its agents, including those by the Nigerian army that constitute gender-based violence against women,” he said.
