|
Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Nigerian Army has run a
secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the
country's northeast since at least 2013.
The programme has involved 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.
Asked about the report, Irabor told reporters in Abuja that the
military "will not investigate what you know is not true".
"I don't think I should waste my energy in such things," he
said, speaking at a news conference addressing insurgency,
terrorism, and banditry in the country.
Irabor, who led the military in the northeast in 2016, a period
covered in the report, said cases referred to in the report
never occurred and that he never saw anything like that.
Since the report was published, human rights group Amnesty
International has called on the Nigerian authorities to
investigate, prosecute those found culpable and provide
reparations to victims.
Lawmakers in Britain and the United States have called on their
countries' governments to seek further information from Nigeria.
Contacted by Reuters about the report, a spokesman for
presidential candidate and former vice president Atiku Abubakar
said that if Atiku won the presidential election scheduled for
February 2023 his administration would look into the issue.
"If we are talking about illegal abortion that is taking place
anywhere, we will find out what is happening with a view to
stopping it," spokesman Charles Aniegwu said.
Aniegwu said however that Atiku and his team were not endorsing
the findings of the Reuters report because they had not
investigated the matter themselves, adding that the Nigerian
military "has been very professional in a number of ways".
He added: "That is not to rule out the possibility of some
individuals not working according to instructions, or working
according to the rules."
"We will indeed begin to examine whether there are bad eggs that
may have done that," he said.
(Editing by James Macharia Chege, Alison Williams and Frances
Kerry)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
