The
doubt by the Nigerian Police Force that the eight suspected members of the
dreaded militant group, Boko Haram, who were killed last Friday has prompted
the police to begin independent investigations into the alleged extrajudicial
killing in Apo Legislative Quarters in Abuja.
This is
coming to the fore after series of outcry from concerned members of the public
as well as human rights groups.
The
eight people who were killed during an offensive operation by the SSS and Army
operatives were said to be co-habitants of many other squatters in two
uncompleted buildings in the aforementioned neighborhood.
The FCT
Police Public Relations Officer, Altienne Daniel, revealed that the command had
kicked off an independent investigation into the incident and the preliminary
report of the police detectives will after submission be made available
in the public domain.
Besides,
the northern socio-political organisations, the Arewa Consultative Forum,
and the Jama’atu Nasril Islam led by the Sultan of Sokoto , Alhaji Abubakar
Sa’ad lll have called for the investigations to include other such killings
which took place recently.
The
other killings mentioned include; Benisheikh, in Borno State, Wase,
in Plateau State, Kafanchan in Kaduna State and also various attacks in
Nasarawa and Taraba states,
The
groups advised the presidency and the respective Northern state governments “to
constitute a commission of inquiry over these matters.”
In an
interview, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani in
Kaduna noted that an investigation was important in order to engener confidence
in Nigerian’s intelligence community.
“The
ACF is observing the event associated with the killings last Friday in Abuja of
the suspected members of the Boko Haram sect with keen interest, especially the
conflicting reports and claims and counter-claims of what actually happened.
“It is
against this backdrop that ACF calls on the authorities to thoroughly
investigate the incident for the purpose of enabling Nigerians and the world to
know the truth needed for inspiring confidence in the nation’s intelligence
community for public good.”
Also in
a statement by JNI Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu also urged the
authorities to caution the State Security Service’s spokesperson
Marilyn Ogar over the manner she is handling the
sensitive security matter.
The JNI
statement read in parts: “A critical overview of these repeated acts of
absurdity clearly shows that the manner in which the SSS spokesperson handles
reportage of security issues needs serious introspection, because the
spokesperson concludes matters before investigation. The case of the Nasarawa
State man found with dynamite in Radio House is still fresh in our
memory.
“Therefore,
the spokesperson should be cautioned. It is most likely as reported by the
media that the Apo victims were not Boko Haram members as claimed by the spokesperson.
“It is
quite unfortunate, regrettable and condemnable that, after witnessing
relative peace in some of these states in recent times, these unfortunate
recurring massacres are coming up within 72 hours”, the group lamented.
Hence,
due to the dissatisfaction of the police authorities with the stance of the SSS
and the Nigerian army, it had begun an independent probe into the incident.
A top
security source who craved anonymity revealed that that police detectives could
not discover any indication of unearthed or fresh soil atto the scene, to
authenticate claims by the SSS.
“The
SSS disappointed the police by not informing us about such an operation in the
FCT. But while we wouldn’t want to antagonise our sister agency and the Army by
exposing the flaws in the operation, we will however carry out a thorough
investigation and submit our findings to the government to avoid another fiasco
in future”, he said.
There
are indications that the probe by the police might strain the relationship with
the security SSS as the police is now discovering various findings about the
incident.
It was
learnt that the SSS and the Army officers after the joint operations have yet
to parade the weapons which were supposedly unearthed from one of the
uncompleted buildings.
In his
reaction, the Director of Defence Information, Brig.Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, noted
that the position of the Army on the operation was stated in a press statement
issued by the Department of State Security.
“There
was a press release issued to that effect by the spokesperson of the SSS.
Ogah issued a press release, you should get that release. The position of the
Army and the SSS are the same.”
“Look,
this was a joint operation between the SSS and the Army. So there is no
different position, the position taken by the spokesperson of the SSS is the
position of the Army, Attahiru said.
However,
the survivors are said to be responding to medical treatments at the
Asokoro District Hospital for gunshot wounds.
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