UN Secretary-General Urges Nigeria To Investigate Mass Abortion Report

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called on the Nigerian government to investigate reports of systemic abortions allegedly being carried out by the Nigerian Army.

According to Reuters, Guterres made this appeal through UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric via email.

He called for a comprehensive investigation and advised that remedial actions and accountability measures be implemented as soon as possible if deemed necessary.

"The Secretary-General takes note with concern of the allegations of systemic and coerced abortions reportedly perpetrated by the Nigerian Army against women and girls who had already been victimized by Boko Haram," Dujarric said in an email to Reuters.

"We call on the Nigerian authorities to investigate these allegations and ensure accountability," said Dujarric while briefing reporters over the weekend.

A controversial Reuters report on Wednesday accused the Nigerian Army of running a secret, systematic and illegal abortion program in the country's northeast since at least 2013.

According to the report, the program involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants.

The report, according to Reuters, was based on dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed.

The Defence Headquarters, Abuja, had tackled Reuters over the report, describing it as falsehood and blackmail by the foreign news outlet.

"Wickedness really runs in some people's veins and it surely runs deep in the Reuters team that concocted such evil for interrogation. The fictitious series of stories actually constitute a body of insults on the Nigerian peoples and culture for, no people or culture in Nigeria practices such evil as dreamt up by the Reuters team," Major General Jimmy Akpor, director, of Defence Information, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, A US State Department spokesperson said the Joe Biden administration is "deeply troubled" by the recent reports of human rights abuses in Nigeria, reported Khaleej Times.

"Our embassy in Abuja is seeking further information, including from the government of Nigeria and stakeholders working in this space," the spokesperson said.

"We have encouraged the government of Nigeria to take the allegations seriously and to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, and we will continue to do so," he added.

Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, said Thursday that the military would not investigate the allegation, calling the report "a body of insults on Nigerian peoples and culture."