Utibe Ekoson
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the federal government to investigate allegations of systemic and coerced abortions reportedly perpetrated by its army.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast since 2013.The programme allegedly involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Boko Haram, according to dozens of witness accounts and documentation reviewed .He called for a thorough investigation and immediate remedial actions and accountability measures, if such measures were necessary.A US State Department spokesperson said the Biden administration was deeply troubled over the development.However, Nigeria’s defence chief recently said the military will not investigate the report, noting that it was not true.
