Human Rights Commission to investigate alleged secret abortion by Nigerian military

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has set up a panel to look into the allegation of an abortion program by the military in the North-East.

A United States new agency Reuters reported in December last year that the Nigerian military had in the last few years operated an abortion scheme in the region.

The media platform added that the military had aborted least 10,000 pregnancies for hostages rescued from Boko Haram insurgents during the period.

The NHRC spokesperson, Fatimah Mohammed, who confirmed the development in a statement on Tuesday, said the seven-member panel would be inaugurated at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on February 7.

READ ALSO: Human Rights commission to report abuses in Nigeria to International bodies

The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Conduct of Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North East (SIIP-North East) is headed by a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Abdu Aboki.

Other members of the panel are – Ms. Kemi Okonyedo, Azubuike Nwankenta, Major-Gen. Letam Wiwa (retd), a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, Dr Maisaratu Bakari, Dr. Fatima Akilu and Ms. Halima Nuradeen.

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