President Goodluck Jonathan declared yesterday that the perceived human rights abuses by the military and other security agencies currently battling terrorism and other emergent threats in the country were exaggerated and should be properly investigated.
Jonathan made the call while declaring open a three-day International Workshop on Civil Military Cooperation at the National Defence College in Abuja, organised by the office of the National Security Adviser and the European Union.
Jonathan made the call while declaring open a three-day International Workshop on Civil Military Cooperation at the National Defence College in Abuja, organised by the office of the National Security Adviser and the European Union.
He said: “We have taken very serious reports from some international organisations about perceived human rights abuses by our security force during military operations.
“Findings have generally shown that these reports are indeed exaggerated.
“I can recount an incident in 1992. I cannot say exactly when, but a newspaper came out with photographs of soldiers raping girls on the street of a community called Choba and we were all alarmed that soldiers were raping women.
“Choba, incidentally, is not a community that is hidden. That is where the University of Port-Harcourt is located. Investigations were later made, even by civil society groups. People asked questions and at the end of the day, there was no incident like that at all.
“This is why we must review use of military camouflage and fatigue by military and paramilitary agencies.
“These are being abused and people who are not supposed to use them are using them.”
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