The Nigerian Human Rights Commission has accused the military of using disproportionate force in Zaria, in the country's north, where at least 380 Shiite Muslims were killed in 2015.
In a report released Thursday in the capital, Abuja, the human rights organization said the victims were members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria sect, led by Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who is now in prison.
The country's director of defense information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, told VOA he expects the charges to be deemed false. The accusations, he said, are unfair and regrettable.
"It's unfortunate that they could come up with this kind of [accusation]. ... The last time they made similar allegations against the Nigerian armed forces, eventually turned to be false,” he said.
Nigeria's armed forces are responsible for ensuring "peaceful coexistence" and national stability, Abubakar said in an interview, and also ensuring that their actions are "enshrined" in the constitution.
"Whatever we do is for the best interest of this country," the general said.
"We are constitutionally empowered to ensure total peace and security in our country,” he added, “and whatever actions that may have been exhibited by the force, I believe, is something which should be commended, not condemned.”
"We don't have any issue with the human-rights group here in Nigeria," he said, but claimed that the commission has never condemned the Boko Haram group's repeated killing of innocent civilians.
"The small action we take for self-defense and to protect the people," the defense official said, has been "exaggerated" by the rights commission.
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