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Tag: Apo killings

  • Apo Killings: DSS faults NHRC’s report

    The Department of State Services (DSS) has faulted the report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which indicted the security agency‎ in the killing of eight squatters at the Legislative Quarters in Apo district, Abuja, last year.

    It has given the commission a one month pre-action notice after which it intends to head for court and challenge the report.

    The DSS’s pre-action notice is contained in the letter to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, written pursuant to section 18(3) of the NHRC (Amendment) Act.

    In the letter written by its lawyer, Solo Akuma (SAN), the DSS said it was dissatisfied with the commission’s recommendations and award and had therefore decided to seek a judicial review of the report.

    The DSS said it intended to ask the court to quash the ‎recommendations and the award.

    It argued that NHRC was biased, lacked the jurisdiction to determine the subject matter, failed to observe rules of fair hearing and committed errors of law on the face of the record.

    The DSS said it intend to head for the Federal High Court, where it hopes to pray for among others, an order of certiorari to bring the commission’s report to the court for the purpose of its being quashed.

    Eight squatters were killed on September 20, 2013 while 11 others were injured when security operatives stormed an uncompleted building at Apo.

    The DSS had claimed after the incident that those killed were members of the Boko Haram sect, a claim some groups contested and petitioned the NHRC for investigation.

     

  • NHRC, Apo killings and the Nigerian Army

    NHRC, Apo killings and the Nigerian Army

    After what it described as extensive investigations into the killing of eight members of the National Association of Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association (NATOMORAS) by a combined team of soldiers and secret service agents in Abuja, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has concluded that the victims were in fact not members of the Boko Haram sect. The secret service had claimed the victims were terror suspects and had called on the Army for back-up in flushing them out of the uncompleted building in the Apo/Gudu exclusive part of the Federal Capital City (FCT) where they were taking shelter. The NHRC directed that the government should pay hefty compensations to the victims, living or dead. In addition, it suggested an urgent review and harmonisation of the security agencies’ rules of engagement in order to eliminate the kind of error and gross violation of human rights that occurred in Abuja in September last year.

    It is not clear what kind of challenge the military and the State Security Service (SSS) would mount against the NHRC report. But a military spokesman has argued that forensic examination was required to establish the guilt of the Army. Whatever challenges are mounted, however, are unlikely to erase the widely held suspicion that the security agencies did in fact use more force than was necessary in either evicting or arresting the NATOMORAS squatters. When the incident happened, and given the account of the spokesperson of the SSS, the public had called for investigations on the premise that many of the accounts of the killings, or what the security agents called exchange of fire, did not quite jell. The investigations have finally yielded fruit.

    The efforts of NHRC must be commended. The outcome of the panel’s report is likely to reinforce public confidence that Nigeria can be made to work, and that when there is a fault somewhere, the inbuilt corrective mechanisms can step in. For a long time, the security agencies have not been quite as successful in dealing with infractions within their folds as the public would wish. There have been too many attempts to cover up atrocities in order, in the logic of the security agencies, not to denude the image of the security organisations or call to question the competence of the officer corps in the various services. The security agencies should see the NHRC report as a call for urgent reforms not only of the rules of engagement, but also in the general running of the organisations and their responsiveness to security and public relations issues. If they have good grounds to challenge the NHRC report, the Army can go ahead and do so. Otherwise, they should let bad enough alone and seek for more professional and less emotive ways of doing their jobs.

    Sometimes organisations, whether security or regular, have behaved quite awkwardly in reforming themselves, especially when their leadership is shorn of the right ethical values and are too incompetent to envision great heights to which they must aspire. The country’s political leaders have a huge role to play here. They must create the right environment to engender the right leadership for the various security organisations in the country. Had this been done, for instance, it would have been unlikely for the military in the 1990s to tolerate generals like Sani Abacha, let alone foster the conditions that propelled him into power undeservingly.

  • Apo killings: Adoke not indicted by report, says NHRC

    Apo killings: Adoke not indicted by report, says NHRC

    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke (SAN) was not indicted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report on the killings in Apo, Abuja, the body said yesterday.

    The NHRC report indicted security agencies – the State Secucity Service (SSS) and the Army for the killing of eight people during an invasion of an uncompleted building in the Federal Capital.

    Those killed and arrested were alleged to be security risks and members of Boko Haram.

    The commission ordered the government to pay compensation to families of those killed.

    In a statement yesterday, the NHRC Executive Secretary, Pro Ben Angwe, said Adoke was not indicted.

    Angwe made the clarification in an April 8 letter (NHRC/ADM/030/XV) to the AGF against the backdrop of ripples generated by the report.

    The letter read: “May I humbly bring to the attention of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice that the commission delivered its decision on the above complaint on the 7th day of April, 2014 and following which I personally certified a copy of the final decision of the Commission and caused same to be forwarded to your honourable chambers.

    “I wish to state here clearly that at no point was the conduct of the Attorney-General of the Federation in question or even mentioned in the proceedings before the commission and in fact, the office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation acted as Judge Advocate to the commission in the proceedings.

    “Consequently any publication that the commission indicted the Attorney-General of the Federation is not only untrue but also a clear departure from the decision of the commission which was pronounced publicly.”

  • Apo killings: Victims want N500m compensation

    Victims of the September 20, 2013 killings in Apo, Abuja, have demanded for N500million compensation from the Federal Government.

    The Chairman, Governing Board of National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, made this known on Wednesday at the public hearing organised by the commission.

    Odinkalu said the demand was made by National Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria on behalf of the victims in the course of the commission’s investigation.

    The chairman sought to know from the State Security Service (SSS) if it was ready to pay compensation to victims.

    Responding, Counsel to SSS, Mr. Charles Osagie, said SSS had no problem compensating victims.

    He, however, said that it would depend on the verification that victims were innocent and that they were hit by bullet from security operatives.

    “We need to first ascertain and determine whether those people who were killed were actually innocent individuals. That is the first step.

    “Until you reach that conclusion, you cannot be talking about compensation or damages, and on the very day of the operation even after the shooting was over we did make some arrests.

    “So, it is difficult for anybody to be conclusive until a thorough investigation is carried out.

    “It is also necessary to ascertain the culpability of the individuals that died at the incident to determine their link to Suleiman, who is at large,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the counsel as saying at the hearing.

    He said it was difficult to ascertain if victims were innocent, given the manner in which they were buried.

    He also said the institution would only take responsibility when it could be ascertained that victims were killed by bullet from security operatives.

     

     

  • Apo killings divide Senate

    There was tension in the Senate yesterday over the killing of eight persons in Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja, believed to be Boko Haram insurgents.

    The Senate named the owner of the controversial uncompleted building as a sister to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Oluwole Adunni. The building is being managed by her son, Adekunle Salisu.

    Some lawmakers dissociated themselves from the report of a joint Senate committee that probed the alleged extra-judicial killings.

    The killings, which took place at Soji Aderemi Close, Apo Legislative Quarters, on September 20, attracted criticism.

    The Senate considered the report of its Joint Committee on National Security and Intelligence and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

    The Chairman, Senator Mohammed Magoro (Kebbi South), presented the two volume 65-page report.

    The committee noted that of the 15 persons arrested and taken into custody by the DSS, four have confessed to be Boko Haram members.

    It also said majority of the occupants cohabited with Boko Haram elements unknowingly.

    The committee said: “Intercepts received after the raid and made available by the DSS indicate that the raid was a necessary and timely one, (indeed proactive).

    It said Suleiman Musa, sect leader, is at large and is being trailed by security agencies.

    It said “the overall anti-terrorist strategy of the Federal Government is still appropriate and effective but in this particular case the conduct of the operations leaves much to be desired.”

    The committee noted that there is a Boko Haram cell in Abuja planning to carry out terrorist activities in the area.

    It said “the death of eight people was not a case of extra-judicial killing but the action of an hastily executed operation.”

    The committee also quoted the DSS to have informed it that “it could not be ruled out that the Shoprite Shopping Mall, Abuja, could have been the target of a Boko Haram attack, which was scheduled for September 22 but disrupted by the security raid of the Apo incident.

    “This is more so as the raided Boko Haram hideout is within the same Apo vicinity as the Shoprite Shopping Mall.”

    The committee said the agency added that “given the penchant of the sect for sensationalism, it was also not unlikely that the residence of the Senate President, which is not far from the raided hideout, could have been a target of the attack.”

    On the owner of the building where the incident took place, the committee said Adekunle Salisu, owner of the uncompleted building in Apo where the incident occurred “informed the committee that the property belonged to his mother, Oluwole Aduni, the only sister to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but that the property is being managed by him.”

    The committee added that Adekunle Salisu “further revealed that he inherited the security man, Joseph from Kaduna State, from the site engineer, Gbenga Olumiluwa, when he handed over the site to him in June.”

    The committee said Salisu “refuted the allegation” that he threatened to bring military personnel to forcefully eject the occupants because “he had no cause to say so.”

    According to the committee, Salisu said “he does not have any relationship whatsoever with the military.”

    On whether he collected any rent from the occupants, or aware that the security guard was doing so, the committee quoted Salisu to have said “he never collected any money from them (occupants) and had no idea if the security man was doing so.”

    But Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh (Kaduna Central), a member of the joint committee, promptly dissociated himself from the report.

    He said the report digressed from the terms of reference of the investigation and described the operation as “irresponsible and unprofessional.”

    Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa (Zamfara Central) also disagreed with the report because members of the committee failed to say whether the killing was extra-judicial or not.

    But Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe disagreed.

    Ndoma-Egba, who congratulated the joint committee, said terrorism had put the world in a difficult time.

    Senator Emmanuel Paulker (Bayelsa) noted that the fact that 18 of 20 senators appended their signatures on the report should be a sign of a balanced report.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu praised the committee and the Senate for their maturity in considering the report.

  • Another Apo killings

    Please when solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves. If I can go back in memory, it was in 2006 a similar incident happened, whereby six innocent Igbo traders lost their lives in the same way these seven were also killed last weekend by a combination of SSS and military personnel. Well, I support government’s effort to defy terrorism and overcome it but caution and diplomacy should be applied especially at the current democratic dispensation. We must be thoroughly democratic and patronise everybody without distinction of class.

    One important area one should look into is, these people have been living in that place for more than two years and there was no report from any citizen or neighbours of any security threat from these squatters. Also, according to reports, they are charged some stipend and they live there with the consent of the care-taker and the owner of the building. Please why were they attacked in the night and branded as Boko Haram without proper arrest, investigation and confirmation that they are members of the group? Or is it because they are from Bauchi, Zamfara, Katsina etc? This is a total blackmail, intimidation, victimisation, humiliation and deprivation. Now, the ASUU is on strike, and some of these squatters are students, you expect some of these youth to stay at home idle? Coupled with hard economic situation and unemployment palaver, they need to struggle for their daily bread.

    This issue borders on human rights, the rule of law and the inviolability of human life. To be candid, the law enforcement agencies should stick to their role under the constitution. These people should not be attacked and gunned down in the first place. Those concerned should be arrested, interrogated, if found guilty they should face the book. Because every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal.

    Lives were lost, many were injured, a certain group of people were blackmailed. We are calling for justice on this issue because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. It is better to have war for justice than peace in injustice. Also the owner of the building should not be spared because he may be the brain behind this barbaric act. Going by the third Amendment of Human Right Act, which forbids the government (security agencies) from quartering soldiers in private residences during peacetime without the residents’ permission, and during wartime only according to law.

    At this junction, I’m appealing to NASS, Human Right, Civil Society and all stake holders to make sure they follow this issue to the end. I also appeal to NASS to come up with modalities to minimise all these forms of extra judicial killings, deprivation, humiliation, victimisation and intimidation, which are inhuman. But this one cannot stop us from having consequences (penalties) for those who violate rules and regulations in the land.

    By the way, to put a stop to this, the law makers must follow and maintain laws; those who interpret the law must also follow and maintain it. The law enforcers should as well follow suit. Government should embark on training and re-training security personnel in order to operate professionally and effectively. Also their welfare should be attractive. Prisons and police cells should be equipped with all the necessary basic amenities. May God help us.

    Adamu Muhd Usman

    Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa State

    amu3333@yahoo.com

  • Apo killings will not be swept under carpet – Mark

    Apo killings will not be swept under carpet – Mark

    President of the Senate, David Mark, on Thursday vowed that the killing of nine Keke Napep operators allegedly suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect by security agents would not be swept under the carpet.

    The nine suspects were killed at an uncompleted building in the Apo District of Abuja on September 20.

    13 others were also reportedly wounded in the incident.

    Although the killing provoked outrage and condemnation, the security agencies insisted that those killed were insurgents planning how to attack certain public places within the capital city.

    Among the security agencies’ chiefs that attended the closed door hearing in Abuja are – the Chief of Army Service, General Azubuike Ihejirika, National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ade Abolurin, Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Bem Angwe and the representative of the Inspector General of Police.

    The Senate had mandated its Joint Committee on National Security and Intelligence and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to discreetly investigate the incident and ascertain what really happened.

    Mark, who spoke while inaugurating the committee in Abuja said: “There will be no biases, no sentiments and we have no preconceived idea. All we are interested in is to get to the root of the matter. We are approaching the matter with an open mind in order to get the facts so that justice would be done.

    He urged those with facts about the Apo killings to freely volunteer information on the incident.

    He noted that the Senate was not out to apportion blame but to unravel the truth concerning the incident.

     

  • Apo killings: how not to fight terrorism

    The latest killings near Apo Quarters in the Federal Capital Territory have further illustrated how our tragedies often leave us with many unanswered questions and even deeper tragedies.

    In 2005 six youths riding in a car at night were killed in Apo by traffic duty policemen, triggering an outcry across the country. One predominant question then was, what offence did the six Igbo youths commit? When Nigerians tired of asking a question that no one could provide a reasonable answer, they hoped that a probe of the incident would put them out of their worries. Eight years after, no investigation of any kind has established the crime of the deceased youths, nor have their killers been seen to have faced the music they deserved. Messy incidents like that routinely leave us as a people feeling had, violated and diminished.

    On September 20, more youths were gunned down in the same area of Abuja, also by security personnel. The only difference is that the nation’s capital of today is not quite what it was when the Apo Six were felled. As I put this piece together, reports said 10 people were killed by a team of soldiers and state security agents on a raid of an unfinished house in the area. Several other people in that building reportedly sustained injuries and were hospitalised. The security men were said to be on a mission to flush out terrorists.

    Well, the mission got a bit sticky, for shortly after it was accomplished, a House committee on public safety and national security took on the minister of the territory, Bala Mohammed, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, plying them with questions. Reports said Senator Mohammed was “quizzed” while the general was only in a “closed-doors” meeting with members of the committee.

    We can take a hint. Both men were questioned regarding the killings, suggesting that the House of Representatives was as concerned about the circumstances surrounding the Apo deaths as are most Nigerians. In fact, even the Senate has been asked to investigate the killings.

    And, really, it is worth investigating. What are the identities of the dead? Were they terrorists? Were they menial workers, and if they were, what sort of menial work did they do? Were they water vendors, shoe-shine boys or refuse collectors or what? Or were they tricycle operators and commercial motorcyclists, as the chief of a tricycle and motorcycle association claimed? It is imperative to resolve these issues because lives and reputations are involved even as Nigeria grapples with its worst challenge yet. It is wise to determine what dangers occupants of that house posed to other people in the neighbourhoods, knowing, as one report said, that the building was only about 100 metres from the home of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    General Ihejirika said arms and ammunition were found in the house and that the security personnel were attacked first on approach to the building. He was also quoted saying a thorough investigation was carried out based on the information they had before the raid. The next thing is to tender the evidence before relevant authorities in order to clear the military and the state security outfit, and disabuse the minds of concerned Nigerians. It is important to show that the fight against terrorism is based on clear-headed strategies and also within the realm of acceptable standards.

    Senator Mohammed also made some contributions to the anti-terrorism campaign, but they are essentially pedestrian, lamely reactionary, if not outright unhelpful. Reports said the minister and his staff have identified no fewer than 100,000 illegal buildings and another 435 unfinished houses and have marked them for demolition. He said any building which is not completed two years after approval will be pulled down, or if it “cannot” be pulled down, will be converted to a police post. The reason for this action, Mohammed said, is to deny miscreants hiding places.

    This is a curious way to fight terrorism. The FCT, as everyone knows, is a territory under construction or deconstruction, but it is pertinent to ask the man who reigns over it why, in spite of the frequent demolitions, there are still as many as 100,000 illegal buildings standing. Did the illegal structures precede Senator Mohammed’s ministry, or did they spring up in spite of his roaring bulldozers? Are the structures popping up faster than his demolition team can cope with? As for the fate of the 435 unfinished houses, what manner of law or regulation determines the time frame within which a landowner can finish building his house? Can anyone measure the waste, to say nothing of the anguish, if after acquiring a piece of land and initiating its development, fate makes it difficult to finish up quickly enough? Think of the police post angle: why can some buildings be pulled down and some “cannot”?

    In any event, it is difficult for one to be persuaded that the issue of terrorism is really about uncompleted buildings. What about the owners of the buildings or the lack of proper surveillance?

    Senator Mohammed was also said to be intent on running integrity tests on uncompleted buildings. It is difficult to establish a reasonable link between weak structures and terrorism threat.

    So just how relevant are Mohammed’s post-Apo killings contributions to the much-needed anti-terrorism battle? Pretty little.

  • Senate orders probe of Apo killings

    Senate orders probe of Apo killings

    •Panel gets seven days to submit report

    The Senate yesterday ordered investigation into the killings of alleged Boko Haram sect members in Apo in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

    The upper chamber mandated its Joint Committee on National Security, Intelligence and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to probe the circumstances that led to the killings of over eight people at Apo on September 20.

    The joint committee was given seven days to submit its report for consideration in plenary.

    The committee was also asked to sit in camera because it involves security matters.

    This followed a motion by Senator Sahabi Ya’au (Zamfara North)

    Ya’u noted with dismay the shooting in an uncompleted building on Soji Aderemi Close, Bamanga Tukur Street of Apo Legislative Quarter, Abuja on September, 20.

    The lawmaker said that he was disturbed by the various accounts of the unfortunate incident which left eight persons, mostly tri-cycle (commonly called Keke Napep) operators dead.

    The Senator added that the incident left about 16 other people with various degree of injuries.

    He said that most of the dead were indigenes of Zamfara, Katsina and Kano states.

    Ya’u said he was aware that the Department of State Security Services (SSS) claimed that the persons killed were members of the Boko Haram sect who were using the building as a hideout and weapons store, preparatory to a terrorist attack on the Federal Capital City.

    The Zamfara State-born lawmaker said the SSS claimed that operatives of the Service were attacked by sympathisers of the sect when the operatives went to exhume weapons buried in the uncompleted building sequel to intelligence report received from some detained Boko Haram elements.

    The Senate, Yau claimed should note that survivors and eyewitnesses claimed that the Keke Napep operators and artisans were squatters who pay N200 daily to enable them sleep in the uncompleted building and had been instructed to vacate the property by the owner.

    He observed that the deadline given to them (squatters) to vacate had not expired “whereupon the owner of the property, allegedly a high-placed security service official, leveraged the instrumentality of the SSS and the army to forcefully eject the squatters.”

    According to him, the eyewitnesses claimed that “the mid-night operation went wrong when eight of the squatters were shot dead by the combined team of the SSS operatives and the army in an orgy of unrestrained shootings.”

    He said that accounts and claims on the incident have raised “serious issues of human rights and the use of security services towards settling personal scores and therefore needed to be investigated by an independent body to unearth the circumstances and facts behind the killings.”

    Yau prayed the Senate to accordingly resolve to “condemn the extra judicial killings in the Apo Quarters.” The prayer was not taken.

    He also prayed the Senate to mandate its Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, National Security and Intelligence, Defence and Army and Police Affairs to investigate the circumstances that led to the killings and report back in two weeks.

    The Senate, he said, should also observe a minute silence in honour of the deceased. The Senate disallowed the prayer until after investigation.

    Senator Clever Ikisikpo (Bayelsa East), who seconded the motion noted that his house in Zone E, Apo Legislative Quarters is about 100 meters away from the scene of the shooting.

    He said: “Whatever happened, the shooting was uncalled for. We don’t really know whether they are Boko Haram members. The SSS said that they were Boko Haram members, others said no.”

    Ikisikpo said that effort should be made to enforce the Federal Territory Capital (FCT) law that stipulates that no house should remain uncompleted for more than two years.

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu described the issue as “very sensitive” especially when human lives were involved.

    He cautioned the senators against going into the merit or demerit of the problem as it would be prejudicial.

    “I pray that we refer the matter to the relevant committees. We should suspend discussion of the matter until we get the report of our committee on the matter,” Ekweremadu said.

    Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (Cross River Central) said that these are very difficult times for the country and the world at large.

    He said: “We are living in very perilous time. The killing took place on 20th September. On Saturday September 21, the Westgate Mall was seized in Kenya. On Sunday Peshawar, a city in Pakistan, a church was bombed and over 60 people died. There was an alert that terrorists were set to strike in different parts of the world. We may have to draw a link with what happened in different parts of the world with what happened in Nigeria.”

    Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South) also cautioned that the Senate should not draw a pre-emptive conclusion.

    He described the incident as unfortunate and prayed the Senate to impress on security agencies to stop prejudicial killing.

    Mark noted that while the Senate is totally against terrorism and extra-judicial killing, operational procedure should be left out until after investigation.

    He said that nobody in the chamber has details of what happened.

    He noted that “what we want is fact and details of what happened before we can draw conclusions. Any thing we say now is based on speculation and what we read on the pages of the newspaper and at this level we should not be operating at that stage. Let us face the facts and once we get the fact we shall work based on fact.”

    He said that the two weeks requested by the mover of the motion for the committee to conclude its investigation was too far and said it should be done in one week.

    He also told the Senator Mohammed-led Committee on Security and National Intelligent to work in camera.

  • MEND: ship of Nigerian state drifting

    MEND: ship of Nigerian state drifting

    A Group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), yesterday expressed concern over the government’s response to the “Apo killings”.

    MEND spoke yesterday in an online statement by its spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo.

    The militant group said: “The recent revelation from credible security sources of a plot to plant weapons in the uncompleted building as evidence, confirms the same action carried out by the same spokeswoman, Marylyn Ogar, after October 1, 2010 twin car bomb blasts in Abuja, in which she announced that a thorough investigation revealed that the car bombs were detonated by mobile phones.

    “They later contradicted themselves in a South African High Court, during Henry Okah’s sham trial, when another State Security Service operative testified that the same car bombs were detonated by timing mechanisms supplied by Mr. Charles Okah.

    “Other false and misleading statement made by Ms. Marylyn Ogar, after our October 01, 2010 twin bomb blasts to hoodwink Nigerians and the world was that the perpetrators were captured on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), which the world is yet to see.