The Shehu of Borno Alhaji Abubakar Umar-Garbai El-Kanemi has applauded the Federal Government for setting up the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in the Counter Insurgency Operations in the North East.

The Traditional Ruler made the commendation during a courtesy visit by the members of the panel to his palace.

The Royal Father who said the Emirate was worried about the Reuters’ report, noted that it was capable of distracting the military from carrying out their operations which according to him have brought relative peace to Borno state and the North East region in general.

The Monarch said atrocious crimes and grave human rights violations became minimal with the massive deployment of troops.

He emphasized that he will be highly surprised if the panel finds the military guilty of unprofessional conduct and human rights violations.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu said the panel visited the Shehu of Borno before the commencement of sittings so that the Emirate will be aware of the presence of the panel in the State as well as the objective of the panel.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Abdu Aboki said the visit was necessary to enable the panel to achieve its objective of arriving at the truth of the matter and serving justice to all parties.