The Federal Government has said the report by an international media organization, Reuters on the Nigerian military is false, adding that the report lacked evidence to make it credible.
According to the Government, Reuter’s story alleging that the Nigerian military carried out a covert mass abortion operation during the fight against Boko Haram is false information intended to mislead and divert the combat forces.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the 10th edition of the (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023).
Reuters reported last Wednesday that the Nigerian Army had run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country since at least 2013.
The report added that at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by terrorists had been forcefully terminated.
Following the Reuters investigation, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called on Nigerian authorities to investigate allegations against the service.
Contradicting the report, the minister of information said, “A foreign news agency recently released a report on the military. They made these allegations without a piece of singular evidence, citing only anonymous sources and a review of phantom documents.
“The writers deserve an award in fiction writing.”
“The agency claimed that its investigation was based on interviews with 33 women and girls.
“How do they use interviews with 33 women and girls to arrive at the bogus claim of 10,000 abortions?
“And in a further indication that the figure of abortions quoted was arbitrary or possibly conjured, the agency first put the figure at 12,000 before settling for 10,000,” he said.