‘Army treated over 500 rights abuse complaints against officers in 6yrs’

The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said it received and treated over 500 complaints of human rights violations against its personnel in six years.

The Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye, disclosed this in Abuja during the first quarter of the Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) media chat.

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He said the formation of the Civil-Military Legal Desk, established to address alleged human rights violations by troops during internal security and counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria, had been a milestone since 2016.

According to him, the desk, which is a cell under the department, receives and facilitates investigations of alleged human rights violations against military personnel and recommends appropriate sanctions.

He said all the complaints received were investigated, adding that some of the complaints were found credible while some were not.

 “Thus, available statistics show that there has been a drastic reduction in litigation cases involving Nigerian army personnel in recent times.

“This could be attributed to the constant sensitisation workshops to human rights conducted across the divisions and formations coupled with the impact of the desk’s sanctions on offenders,” he said.

On his part, Brig.-Gen. Ojogbane Adegbe, Director, Psychological Operations, Department of Civil-Military Affairs, said the combination of kinetic and non-kinetic operations in addressing security challenges was in line with international best practices.