The Theater Commander, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Major General Ibrahim Sallau Ali, has narrated how the deceased leader of the Boko Haram terrorist sect, Abubakar Shekau, abandoned his wives and fled when Nigerian Armed Forces attacked his camp.
Ali disclosed that one of the wives Shekau left behind was heavily pregnant.
The top Army officer stated these when he appeared to testify before a panel the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, constituted to investigate allegations of human rights violations against the Nigerian military.
Speaking on when his team encountered the Boko Haram leader, Major General Ali said: “The military moved against them and neutralized those who wanted to kill us.
“When we attacked them at one point during a clearance operation, the leader, Abubakar Shekau escaped, leaving his wives and we arrested and brought them to the State government lodge.
“One of Shekau’s wives was pregnant at that time and I think she even delivered successfully and I never had the experience of clearance operations targeted at women and children.
“We don’t arrest the women in the cities but rather focus on the men that carried arms against the State”.
On the allegation of massive killing of children on the premise that they were fathered by Boko Haram insurgents, Major General Ali who was formerly the Deputy Director of Logistics at the Army Headquarters, said the military operated with a high sense of professionalism and utmost regard for human life.
He said the military medical facility in Damaturu was not equipped to do surgery, adding that women were often referred to the University of Maiduguri when the need arose.
Similarly, the Borno State Coordinator of Civil Joint Task Force (CJTF), Abba Aji Kalli, in his oral evidence before the panel, said they usually assist the military to navigate through pathways in the communities since they were more familiar with the terrain as indigenes of the state.
According to him, the CJTF members took an oath to remain fair to every member of the public, irrespective of whether they were friendly with them or not.
The CJTF leader told the panel that the military is professionally minded in their operations both on and off the battlefield.
He, therefore, dismissed the report of alleged illegal abortions by the military as false and unfounded.