Monthly Updates
December 2022
In two stories published in December, Reuters reported on allegations of severe abuses by the Nigerian military in its years-long fight against insurgent groups. One report alleged that the Nigerian military had been operating a programme that performed abortions (often without consent) on women who had fallen pregnant after being taken as hostages by Islamist insurgent groups. Reuters found that more than 10,000 such abortions had been performed since 2013. In a second report, Reuters alleged that children were intentionally targeted during military operations against Islamist insurgent groups. The report suggested that thousands of children have been murdered over the past 13 years and was able to find at least two witnesses to six incidents in which a total of 60 children were killed. The Nigerian military and government responded to each of these reports with a complete denial, calling the reporting an insult and evil. Nevertheless, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, asked the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the allegations made in these reports.
November 2022
With only three months until the February 2023 elections in Nigeria, many CSOs have been active in highlighting any procedural problems or restrictions on political rights. After a process of internal review during which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) purged the voter register of 2.7 million ineligible registrants, INEC published the preliminary voter registry for public review. CSOs were quick to bring attention to potential problems relating to the registration of persons who may be too young to vote, and others who may be registered more than once. Following public input, the registry is to be corrected before the election. In isolated, but concerning incidents, two INEC local offices were the targets of arson in Ogun State and Osun State. Given the understaffing, logistical challenges (including matters around voter registration), and violence that marred the 2019 election, these matters in Nigeria must be carefully monitored.
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