The Military High Command has dismissed a new Amnesty International report accusing Nigerian troops of carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Southeast, insisting the Armed Forces are not involved in such acts anywhere in the country.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye, stated this on Thursday during the military’s biweekly briefing on operations nationwide. He also debunked reports that notorious Northwest bandit leader Bello Turji had surrendered some weapons and freed hostages under a peace deal brokered by Islamic clerics to enable Zamfara farmers return to their fields.
“Bello Turji has not surrendered. We are still on his trail,” Kangye said.
Amnesty International’s latest report, A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in Southeast Nigeria, released on August 13, alleged that security agencies — including the military and police — have committed unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances, and property destruction during operations in the region since 2015.
Country Director Isa Sanusi said the exact number of people killed remains unknown, with many still missing. He accused authorities of failing to protect lives, enforce law and order, and provide justice or reparations to victims, warning that “impunity for these human rights crimes continues to have a chilling effect on the enjoyment of other human rights.”
Responding, Kangye said the allegations were unfounded. “The Armed Forces cannot deploy troops to protect citizens and then turn around to engage in extrajudicial killings,” he said. “Do soldiers in the Southeast take their guns to the streets and start shooting people? Even you who asked the question know what Amnesty International stands for and what they usually publish about the Nigerian military.”
Kangye also highlighted recent operational successes, noting that troops have conducted raids, ambushes, fighting patrols, and covert missions across all theatres, with air components carrying out reconnaissance and interdiction strikes against Boko Haram, JAS, and ISWAP fighters.
In the South-South, he said, troops of Operation Delta Safe arrested 29 suspected oil thieves, cultists, kidnappers, and other criminals during operations in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa States.
