TheCable

The sexual violence at internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Borno state is being investigated, according to the Nigeria police force.

Jimoh Moshood, spokesman of the force, said this in reaction to a New York Times report on how teenagers who fled Boko Haram captivity were allegedly raped by security officials.

Moshood said all the cases reported were under investigation following a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari.

“All those cases are under investigation,” he told TheCable on the telephone.

“The president has since directed the inspector general of police to investigate early in the year and investigation is on. Some officials have been arrested and they are being prosecuted.”

Moshood said complaints of sexual violence had reduced since investigations kicked off.

“The complaints have reduced drastically,” he said.

“We are still investigating more officials. Although we had one or two instances where the IDPs said they got married to some of the people accused, that it wasn’t rape.

“But still, everybody mentioned was brought onboard for investigation. Some were arrested, investigated and prosecuted.”