The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC ) has appealed to the Borno State government to support its special independent investigative panel set up to investigate human rights violations in the North East .
The executive secretary of NHRC, Mr Tony Ojukwu, made the appeal yesterday when members of the panel alongside officials of the commission paid a courtesy call to the deputy governor of Borno State, Alhaji Usman Umar Kadafur, in Maiduguri.
Ojukwu informed the deputy governor that the panel was established in line with the inherent express and incidental powers of the NHRC under sections 5 and 6 of the commission’s Act of 2020 following the three part report of media group- Reuters in December 2022 alleging series of gross violations of international and national human rights laws by the Nigerian Armed Forces and the insurgents ( Boko Haram/ ISWAP terrorists ).
He further informed Kadafur that the SIIP would have the mandate of investigating allegations contained in the Reuters report and make recommendations on culpability and accountability and reforms along the lines of the alleged violations and on integrating human rights into counter- insurgency operations in Nigeria and North East.
In his remarks, the deputy governor, Alhaji Kadafur welcomed the panel to the state and assured that the state government would do everything possible to support it and the NHRC to achieve its mandate.
He urged members of the panel to be mindful of the damages the Boko Haram insurgency had caused the state such as destruction of public infrastructures, all maner of human rights violations including raping and displacement of citizens.
Meanwhile, the Shehu of Borno Alhaji Abubakar Umar-Garbai El-Kanemi has applauded the federal government for setting up the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East (SIIP-NE), saying it is timely and well deserved.
He made this commendation yesterday during a courtesy visit by the members of the panel to his palace.
While expressing delights at the visit, he said the emirate is worried about the Reuters’ report, describing it as capable of distracting the military from carrying out their operations which according to him have brought relative peace to Borno state and the North East region in general.
“We are happy with the setting up of the panel by the government, it is a relief to us because we are hopeful that it will get to the root of the matter and unravel the truth” he stated.
He recalled that prior to the deployment of troops on counter insurgency operations to Borno and other parts of the North East, several villages were captured, airports were inoperative, roads were barricaded, telecommunication was interrupted, women and school children were kidnapped at random by the insurgents. the massive deployment of troops, saying that he will be highly surprised if the panel finds the military guilty of unprofessional conduct and human rights violations.
He appealed to the government to render more humanitarian assistance to his people who according to him have suffered displacement, forced migration, loss of family members, farmlands, and jobs, etc as a result of insecurity in the region.
