IDPs Rape Allegation: 3 Military Officers indicted; Policemen, Prison officer, Civilian JTF arrested.

 Following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, that the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris investigate allegation of sexual abuse against internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East, three military officers of the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Airforce have been indicted.

The IGP who made the disclosure in Abuja also said 2 Police officers, one Prisons officer and 2 Civilian JTF members have been arrested and are already in Police custody.

He said that investigators from the IGP Monitoring unit were currently liaising with officials of the military services with a view to arresting the Army and Airforce officers noting that after investigations, they will be charged to court.

He noted that it was in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of such dastardly acts that the Police headquarters recently deployed women police officers to the IDP camps in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.

Idris spoke at an enlarged meeting he held with DIGs, AIGs and Commissioners of Police in Abuja on the security situation in the country.

A group, Human Rights Watch in October released a report claiming that Camp leaders, Police Officers, Soldiers, Vigilante groups and other authorities working at Internally Displaced Persons camp in the North, have been raping and sexually exploiting some of the Female IDPs.

The report noted that women and girls abused by members of the security forces and vigilante groups working with government forces in their fight against Boko Haram say they feel powerless and fear retaliation if they report the abuse.

 Part of the report reads,  “A 17-year-old girl said that just over a year after she fled the frequent Boko Haram attacks in Dikwa, a town 56 miles west of Maiduguri, a policeman approached her for “friendship” in the camp, and then he raped her.
“One day he demanded to have sex with me. I refused but he forced me. It happened just that one time, but soon I realized I was pregnant. When I informed him about my condition, he threatened to shoot and kill me if I told anyone else. So I was too afraid to report him”.

“One of the victims, a 16-year-old girl who fled a brutal Boko Haram attack on Baga, near the shores of Lake Chad, northern Borno in January 2015, said she was drugged and raped in May 2015 by a vigilante group member in charge of distributing aid in the camp:

“He knew my parents were dead, because he is also from Baga. He would bring me food items like rice and spaghetti so I believed he really wanted to marry me. But he was also asking me for sex.

“I always told him I was too small. The day he raped me, he offered me a drink in a cup. As soon as I drank it, I slept off. It was in his camp room. I knew something was wrong when I woke up. I was in pain, and blood was coming out of my private part. I felt weak and could not walk well.

“I did not tell anyone because I was afraid. When my menstrual period did not come, I knew I was pregnant and just wanted to die to join my dead mother. I was too ashamed to even go to the clinic for pregnancy care. I am so young!

“The man ran away from the camp when he heard I delivered a baby six months ago. I just feel sorry for the baby because I have no food or love to give him. I think he might die.

Following the damning report published by the Human Rights Watch about the alleged sexual assault by some police soldiers, vigilante, and other government officials on female IDPs in various camps in the North east, President Buhari instructed the Inspector General of Police and governor of the states with IDP camps, to investigate the allegations.

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