Nigerian military - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Nigerian military swoops on militants and oil thieves in week-long operation

NIGERIA'S military said it had inflicted heavy losses on Islamist militant groups in the north and oil thieves in the south, arresting hundreds, seizing weapons and rescuing kidnap victims in a week-long operation. Defence spokesperson Major-General Edward Buba said in a statement that troops had killed or wounded 188 militants and arrested 330 suspects across different locations in the country. Security forces also arrested 36 suspected oil thieves in the Niger Delta region and freed 133 kidnap victims, seizing around 270 weapons and more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition during the entire operation. "The armed forces are working decisively to…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigerian rights panel, underfunded and overmatched, begins probe of powerful military

NEWS

LIBBY GEORGE A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country’s army. Those familiar with the commission’s past work say it faces stiff challenges. The state-funded NHRC does its best to press officials to act in the interest of citizens whose rights have been violated, eight sources with knowledge of the commission said. But they said the NHRC, whose inquiry was supported by the government amid an international outcry, is hobbled by a lack of authority to compel military leaders and other officials to prosecute or…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigeria probes army violations

NEWS

A special Nigerian human rights panel began investigating Reuters reports that the army massacred children and ran a secret abortion programme when fighting Islamist insurgents and said it would refer for prosecution those it considered guilty of rights violations. The Nigerian military has denied the reports and said it would not carry out an investigation because they were not true. Anthony Ojukwu, executive secretary of the government-appointed National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), publicly launched the seven-member investigation panel led by a retired Supreme Court judge in Abuja. Ojukwu said the investigations followed "allegations of gross human rights violations contained in the three-part…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Abubakar Shekau: battle for supremacy among Islamist groups bodes ill for the Sahel

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE Nigerian military says it is investigating claims that the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is dead. His death has not been independently confirmed. It is also not the first time a claim like this has been made. The reports have nevertheless raised questions about who has the upper hand in the region – Boko Haram or the breakaway Islamic State West Africa Province. Adejuwon Soyinka, The Conversation’s West Africa regional editor, asked Folahanmi Aina, an expert on Boko Haram and security in the Lake Chad Basin region, to analyse the security situation. FOLAHANMI AINA, Doctoral Candidate in Leadership Studies,…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigerian military in firefight with gang who kidnapped students

NEWS

THE Nigerian military had located and exchanged fire with gunmen who kidnapped scores of secondary school students in northwestern Katsina state, according to a statement from the president. The gang, armed with AK-47s, stormed the Government Science secondary school in Kankara district at about 9:40 p.m. on Friday, police and locals said. A parent and school employee told Reuters that roughly half of the school's 800 students were missing. President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that the military had located the kidnappers in a forest and was exchanging fire with them, aided by air support. In the statement, Buhari…