Youth council president faults SSS
The State Security Service on Friday paraded a suspected Boko Haram member it claimed is linked to the establishment of the hideout raided in Abuja Thursday night.
Mohammed Adamu thereafter narrated how he met the sect in Abuja.
Mohammed said he and his co-suspect, Kamal Abdullahi also in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS), were recruited after the Sallah in a mosque.
He added that he is a mechanic and normally used his Golf car to carry the members of the Boko Haram whenever they were meeting at the uncompleted building in Gudu District, behind the Apo Legislative Quarters.
He said the members of the Boko Haram that usually meet in the uncompleted twin-duplex every Monday were 10 in number.
Mohammed, who spoke in Hausa to newsmen at the site of the clash, said his job was to pick the members to he meeting and drop them after the meeting.
He said he usually hisses sign to alert the Boko Haram members to the presence of people and makes a whistle sign to tell them that all was calm.
He stated that the Commander of the group is called Suleiman.
He said Suleiman used to pay him N5000 per week for his services.
He said: “The person that introduced me to them is Suleiman. We met in Abuja. He did not tell me they were Boko Haram members. I used to pick and run errands for them.
“I don’t know how much they paid the Maiguard. They refused to give me my money and I threatened to expose them before I was arrested.”
On his part, the President of his National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Abdullahi Abdulmajeed, said: “The information at our disposal is the fact that this morning, the Chairman of the Keke NAPEP Riders Association, the Apo Chapter, called upon us as the umbrella organization and the voice of Nigerian youths, to report an incident that took place here in the middle of the night.
“On account of his report, we were informed that there was a team of military men who invaded this place at about 12am in the night and in the course of their invasion about nine persons were killed and about 17 were injured.
“Some were said to have been arrested. As representatives of the youths of this country, it behoves on us to move out to find what exactly the situation was that led to the death of nine youths of this country. We got in touch with the security agencies and we moved straight to the hospital where we visited the morgue where the bodies of the youths were deposited.
“We saw the bodies of nine youths and then we cross- referenced the Chairman and the Secretary of the Keke NAPEP Association, who gave us his account as follows:
• That some members of the Keke NAPEP Association were resident in an uncompleted building because they were homeless.
• They did not have shelter and they had a particular arrangement with the security man whom they pay about N200 every night to have access to this accommodation.
• He also told us that the building belonged to a General who gave them two ads notice to quit and in the event that they did not quit, as it were, in the middle of the night today, he sent in troops to actually come and slay them.
“So, in the first instance, we thought it was extra-judicial killing and while we were at the mortuary, we got in touch with the members of the State Security agencies who also moved in immediately.
“They met us at the morgue and we were invited down here to come and have a first hand account of what transpired. Upon getting here, we had access to two of the members who spoke to us. They were asked a couple of questions right before the media. They answered certain questions which gives us the impression that probably the earlier account might not have been the whole truth.
Responding to a question, the NCYN President added: “As it is, we will not be adjudicating on this matter because it is a matter of national security. The impression we were given in the morning is that fact that this was an issue of injustice meted out on Nigerian youths because they were homeless and it was extra-judicial and that was what informed our presence here to ensure that if it was actually injustice meted out on Nigerian youths, as their voice we must ensure that justice is done.
“But upon getting here and seeing he evidence at the disposal of the members of the State Security on the account that we were given, we believe that there were more lies behind the information we were given in the morning.
The Secretary of Apo Keke NAPEP Riders Association, Augustine Apeh, said: “What were told is that the house belongs to a military man and that they pay the security to the house to sleep there and that according to information, the security was asked by the owner of the house to evict them out of the house.
“But the security did not tell them because he was getting money from. I was also told that early this morning soldiers came there and fired at all of them and that they killed about nine, injured 13 and went away with about 28 other persons to unknown destination. So, I said this issue was too much for me to handle.
“I called Welfare Officer; I called my Durumi Chairman, Garki Chairman and all my executives. They went to Garki Police Station to make the report. I called on the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria and so many security agents to come to this place.
On the actual population of Keke NAPEP riders resident in the building, he said: “I don’t have that figure.
“But I have gone round the building, I have seen that so many mats and mattresses and signs that so many people were living in the uncompleted building.”
