Members of Investigative Panel
Some staff of State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri, on Tuesday testified before the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North East.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the panel, under the chairmanship of Justice Abdu Aboki (rtd), has been in Maiduguri for the past one week receiving testimonies on Reuters news agency’s three-part report, alleging human rights violations by the military.
The reports alleged that the military organised 10,000 illegal abortions and killing of children suspected to be fathered by Boko-Haram members between 2013 to 2019.
Addressing the panel, Dr Mohammed Baba-Shehu, the Medical Director of the specialist hospital, whose facilities were allegedly used by the military for illegal abortion programme, said he was not aware of such programme.
Baba Shehu, who worked for some years before assuming the position as Medical Director in 2021, said there was no way the facility could be used for illegal abortion.
“No public hospital will do that and if such thing really happened, it will be easy to get the survivors,” Baba Shehu said.
In her testimony, the former Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Laraba Bello, who served from 2013 to 202, denied the hospital involvement in any programme of illegal abortion.
Bello, who narrated how the hospital operated under the guide of the state Hospital Management Board, also denied claim that Reuters reached out to her regarding the report.
She stated that she did not recieve any communication from the agency.
“I cannot remember any request for interview that I declined; I dont run away from my responsibility.
“We do our work in line with ethics. This allegation is surprising to us,” Bello said.
Others who testified before the panel at the hospital included the Head of Department (HOD) Obstetric and Gynaecology, Dr Zara Umate; Head of Information Management, Mrs Juliana Jaduwa; Head of Pharmaceutical Department, Ms Alheri Wakawa; and a Mortuary Attendant, Ahmadu Mohammed.
The panel had, within the past one week, also visited medical facilities in Maimalari Cantonment and Giwa Barracks quoted in the Reuters report. (NAN)
