Nigeria’s military authorities said today they will never condone any proven case of human rights abuse by its personnel, and will investigate the incident that has been reported by Amnesty International (AI).
In a press statement by spokesman Chris Olukolade, the authorities expressed deep concern about the video footage currently being circulated in that regard, noting that it became reference data for AI in its report on the subject.
“Much as the scenes depicted in these videos are alien to our operations and doctrines, it has to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept, surreptitiously into the system all to the detriment of expectations, in line with best practices to which the nation’s military has committed itself.”
Recalling that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was previously constituted to look into separate allegations contained in a previous report, Major General Olukolade said that Defence Headquarters has constituted “a team of senior officers and legal cum forensic experts” to study the latest video and the resultant allegations of infractions so as to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts.