Nigerian army denies terminating pregnancies of Boko Haram female victims

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General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defense Staff, denied claims on Friday that the Nigerian military was involved in termination of pregnancies among women in Northern Nigeria who had been impregnated by Boko Haram militants.

The military allegedly carried out a covert abortion campaign as part of its counter-insurgency operations in the northeast, ending at least 10,000 births among women and girls, according to a February 2022 Reuters story.

General Musa denied these allegations in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today, calling them unfounded and a smear campaign carried out by certain NGOs with hidden agendas.

“I wish you could call them now and ask that question. I was the theatre commander when this accusation surfaced, and it was deeply upsetting. I realized most of these organizations do not mean well for us,” he said.

He pleaded that such allegations often emerge when the military makes significant progress, aiming to tarnish its image and demoralize troops. “Whenever we are succeeding, they throw this at us to make us look bad. The question is, what is their intent? Are they unhappy with our success?”

In order to clear the air, General Musa recalls speaking with General Lucky Irabor, who was the Chief of Defense Staff at the time, about the situation and stressing the necessity of an investigation.

“When this came up, I told General Irabor we should investigate it thoroughly because I was confident nothing like this happened,” he stated.

An impartial panel was eventually established by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to look into the claims. General Musa said the commission could not find any indication of military misconduct. He added that during the more than year-long probe, the panel was given unfettered access by the military.

“The NHRC committee investigated this for one and a half years, and I was the first to testify in January 2023. They had complete access to go wherever they wanted, and their report found no evidence of these claims,” he said.

General Musa said the military had contacted the Attorney General to take legal action against the accusers and demanded a public apology from those who made the accusations.

He also questioned the silence of international organizations and local NGOs, including the United Nations, over a decade if such actions had truly occurred. “If we had been doing this for 10 years, as claimed, why didn’t these organizations report it? Are they also complicit?”

General Musa further said that the report cited by Reuters might have come from some NGOs that provide safe abortion services to more than 10,000 Nigerians.

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