FILE: Nigerian Army personnel during a shooting exercise
The Nigerian Army has again denied Reuters’ report alleging its involvement in the abortion of 10,000 pregnancies, the murder of children, and other sexual and gender‑based violations. Chief of Army Staff Farouk Yahaya, testifying before an investigative panel, challenged the international news agency to produce evidence to substantiate its claims. According to the commander of the 29 Task Force Brigade, the army is focused on combating insurgency and restoring peace in the North‑East and could not have abandoned that mission to carry out such abortions. He suggested that Reuters was following a script intended to undermine the army’s successes against the insurgency.
While testifying before the seven‑member panel chaired by Justice Abdu Aboki (retired), Yahaya noted that the military is purchasing arms to fight insurgents and expected Reuters to support these efforts rather than adopt a “textbook solution” that misrepresents the reality in the North‑East. “Some people are gifted at writing, like in novels, describing what they have never witnessed,” he said, adding that wasteful use of ammunition would lead to court‑martial. “We are not a mercenary army; we are a professional army.”
He further argued that those dissatisfied with the army’s achievements have resorted to tarnishing its image. “We are succeeding, and not many are happy about it. They cannot reverse our successes, so they rubbish them,” he asserted. “Sometimes they are playing other people’s scripts. We are not Boko Haram terrorists; we are trained professionals, and training is continuous.”
Yahaya emphasized that the army operates under the government’s authority. “The National Human Rights Commission monitors what the military does, and our operations are internal, within our country,” he explained. “We are aware that the people we are fighting are Nigerians. Our policy is respect for human beings; we are not more Nigerian than the people we protect. The allegation is merely grammar—the business of the army is to defeat the insurgents.”
When panel secretary Mr. Hilary Ogbonna asked him to address Reuters’ claim that soldiers massacred many children allegedly fathered by Boko Haram, Yahaya responded, “That is laughable. Even if there is stigma attached to such children, is it the army that will stop the stigma?”
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