DHQ denies death of 4,000 B’Haram suspects in custody

Nigeria’s military authorities have denied a media report that 4,000 suspected members of the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, died in military custody.

A report credited to a British newspaper, Daily Independent, had claimed that Nigerian soldiers committed war crimes by terrorising local residents in areas worst-hit by Boko Haram insurgency.

In a terse rebuttal posted on its website on Monday, the Defence Headquarters accused the British newspaper of disdain and bias against Nigeria.

The statement read in part, “The report credited to the British Newspaper, Daily Independent, UK in which it claimed that Nigerian government “committed war crimes by terrorising some of its citizens in the war against insurgency” is to say the least, unduly judgmental and quite consistent with the disdain and bias with which a section of the western media reports Africa.

“Is it not preposterous to even suggest that ‘4000 people have died in military custody…’ when it is on record that suspected terrorists are held in various facilities while being processed for prosecution? At what point then did 4,000 people die in military custody?

“This ludicrous report did not come as a surprise to anybody since this biased mind-set against Nigerian government has always characterised this newspaper even before the commencement of the ongoing counter-terrorist operation.”

The DHQ further accused the newspaper of unprofessionalism, saying that what it wrote was “unsubstantiated and bogus” allegation against the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

It said that no credible independent source or government official was contacted to ascertain the truth of the “wild claims”, saying “yet the sanctimonious and all-knowing Daily Independent could not exercise any restraint to be sure of its story.”

“The Daily Independent newspaper and its ilk should be reminded that the Nigerian military and by extension the government cannot be intimidated by this patterned bias and supremacist mind-set in reporting Africa.”