Sex in IDP camps: Soldiers, policemen, warder arrested

Ten suspects have been arrested by the Police in connection with sexual exploitation in Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps in the North-East.

Among those arrested by a crack team of investigators from the Force Headquarters, are three soldiers, an Air Force personnel, two police officers, a prison warder, a staff of the Borno State Ministry of Agriculture, as well as two members of the Civilian JTF.

The disclosure was made yesterday in Abuja by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris. It will be recalled that the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had, a few weeks ago, released a damning report indicting security operatives of sexually exploiting female IDPs.

In its report, HRW disclosed that at least 43 women and girls living in seven IDP camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, had passed through the ordeal of sexual exploitation.

The victims had been displaced from several Borno towns and villages, including Abadam, Bama, Baga, Damasak, Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza, Kukawa, and Walassa.

HRW stated that most of the women and girls were drugged and raped, while others were lured into sex through false promises of marriage, financial assistance and other benefits.

According to the report, many of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned if they became pregnant and their children have suffered discrimination, abuse, and stigmatization from other camp residents.

Consequently, the IGP had caused an investigation into the allegations by the global rights body. Addressing senior officers at the Force Headquarters yesterday, Idris said, as is the usual practice, the officers arrested, will be dismissed, preparatory to their arraignment in court.

According to the IG, “So far, we have arrested some suspects. Some of these suspects are police officers; some of them are from sister agencies. “As I’m talking to you, we have two police officers under investigation, and they are in detention now.

“We have a prison warder, we have two civilian JTF members, we have a civilian from the Ministry of Agriculture, Maiduguri, who is now in detention. “In respect of our sister agencies, we have written to them for them to avail us their personnel.

“These sister agencies, we are expecting three obviously from the Army, one from the Air Force…” He said that the police would liaise with the Army and Air Force to make their men available for a thorough investigation.

Idris said that after the investigation, any suspect found guilty of the offence would be dismissed and taken to court for prosecution. “We are going to conduct a thorough investigation, and if anyone is found guilty, we will dismiss him then take him to court,” he said.

He said that the police had put in place some mechanisms, including the deployment of female police officers to IDPs camp to check future occurrences.

On the investigation, the IG said: “About three weeks back, I set up a panel to conduct an investigation into this allegation that was made; the investigation was conducted by the IGP Monitoring Team at the Force Headquarters.

“We made contacts with the Human Rights Watch, in order for them to sort of verify some of these allegations. But, according to the response we had, they said they don’t reveal their source of information.

“Despite that, our officers, with much of tenacity and professionalism, were able to unravel some of these allegations”, the IGP said. Women and girls displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency had accused government officials, including soldiers and policemen, of sexual exploitation in IDP camps.

Many of the female IDPs were reportedly raped by security operatives and camp officials who were posted to the camps to protect these citizens who fled their homes to avert being killed, maimed or abducted by the terrorists.

One of the victims, 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,” she said. “I refused, but he forced me. It happened just that one time, but soon I realised 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.” 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.

Another victim, an 18-year-old girl from Kukawa, a Borno town 112 miles from Maiduguri, said that a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, initially gave her privileges, including passes that allowed her to leave the camp, but then raped her.

Similarly, a 30-year-old woman from Walassa, near Bama, about 43 miles west of Maiduguri, said that she fled into a nearby wooded area after Boko Haram fighters killed her husband and abducted her daughters, ages 12 and 9.

According to her, “A few weeks after soldiers transported us to the camp, near Maiduguri, one of the soldiers guarding us approached me for marriage.

He used to bring food and clothes for me and my remaining four children. So I allowed him to have sex with me. He is a Hausa man from Gwoza. That is all I know about him. Two months later, he just stopped coming.

Then I realised I was pregnant. I feel so angry with him for deceiving me. “When he was pretending to woo me he used to provide for me, but as soon as I agreed and we began having sex, his gifts began to reduce until he abandoned me.

Now, my situation is worse as the pregnancy makes me sick, and I have no one to help me care for my children,” she told HRW. A woman from Bama living at the same camp said: “The soldier showed his interest by bringing me food and clothes…

We started having sex in my camp tent – my sister who was sharing it with me left – or at night in the open field where soldiers stay in the camp. Five months later when I realised I was pregnant and told him, he stopped coming.

I have not seen him since then.” Meanwhile, the police chief did not provide a categorical response to the allegation by the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, that his Chief Security Officer (CSO) had been withdrawn.

When asked to comment on the development, Idris simply said: “We have 36 governors in this country, and I think we have good relationship with all of them.” He advised state commissioners of police to ensure that Nigerians were not subjected to hardships on the roads during the Yuletide. “You should ensure that no hardship is created for citizens of Nigeria, try and ease movements on the roads,” he said.

In another development, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), yesterday said the Federal Government is worried and deeply concerned about allegations of sexual harassment of students in institutions of learning.

Malami made the statement at the 5th National Conference of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) in Umaru Waziri Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi, yesterday

. “Government is worried and deeply concerned about allegations of sexual harassment of students, the monetisation of marks and degrees and absence of due process in the award of contracts by Polytechnic Governing Councils, provosts and other administrators, among other allegations,” he said.