From ‘Apo Six’ to ‘Apo Eight’

Most people may not remember the exact date of the eight-year old popular ‘Apo Six’ killings. Majority will however, remember that the sustained popular outcries, condemnations and international outrage against the incident  led to the official investigation of the June 8, 2005   cold blooded murder  of Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony […]

Most people may not remember the exact date of the eight-year old popular ‘Apo Six’ killings. Majority will however, remember that the sustained popular outcries, condemnations and international outrage against the incident  led to the official investigation of the June 8, 2005   cold blooded murder  of Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike and Tina Arebun, all between 21 and 25 years of age.
However,  a  coincidence  in the exact  number of policemen accused as masterminds of the alleged killings, namely ,  DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, DPO Uthman Abdullahi and corporals Nicholas Zachariya, Ezekiel Acheneje, Emmanuel Baba and Sadiq Salami have since   January 18, 2008 been standing trial at an FCT High Court. The killings occurred at a police check point on Gimbiya Street, Garki Area 11, Abuja.
But for the findings of the panel of enquiry headed by Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, set up by then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the police authorities had insisted that those killed were armed robbers. 
Smacking of a similar pattern of killings, Weekly Trust reports that at the early hours of September 20, 2013 at Zone E, Apo Legislative Quarters, eight young men were again killed by security agents. (The eighth person later  died of gunshot wounds  at the Asokoro General Hospital) after an operation by a combined team of soldiers and men of the Department of State Services (DSS) also known as the State Security Services (SSS).
The SSS claimed that  the security operation that sniffed lives out of the young Nigerians was compelled by the hunt after suspected Boko Haram members were reportedly using the uncompleted building as a hideout.
The controversy surrounding the operation has led to the Senate asking its committees on National Security and Intelligence, and Judiciary and Legal Matters to “investigate the circumstances that led to the killings at Apo and report back in one week.” The reports of the committees are expected to be submitted next Wednesday.
The Senate took the decision following a motion on matters of urgent public importance moved by Senator Sahabi Alhaji Ya’u. The senator said he was disturbed about the various accounts of the incident which left eight persons  “mostly tricycle operators and most of whom are indigenes of Zamfara, Katsina and Kano states, dead and about 16 with various degrees of injuries.”
Apart from the Police, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also said it has opened an investigation into the killings to determine what exactly happened.
Spokesman for the commission, Muhammad Nasir Ladan, said   investigators would submit a preliminary report which would be studied internally first and made public later.
Since the killings, there has been sustained outrage and condemnations  from various religious organisations including  the Jamatul Nasrul Islam (JNI), the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), Arewa Group for Peace and Development, Nigerian Youth Assembly (NYA), former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar , other groups and individuals.
Despite the outcries, the SSS said the incident was a shootout with suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, but on the contrary, those injured said it was an attack on squatters following an eviction warning by the owner of the building.
The SSS authorities claimed that their operatives were searching for weapons in the building when they came under fire, resulting in a shootout. The agency said the search was launched following a tip-off by Boko Haram elements in detention.
The SSS spokeswoman Marylin Ogar refused to respond to questions in public domain over the failure to show any weapons or any iota of evidence linking the affected people to Boko Haram. She instead in a statement yesterday said   the SSS has information that the building was being used to stock weapons. As at the time of going to press last night, the SSS was yet to display any arms recovered during the operation from the suspects.
She said: “The operation was sequel to information obtained from two Boko Haram elements Kamal Abdullahi and Mohammed Adamu, who had earlier been arrested for terrorist activities. They led the security team to the uncompleted buildings where arms were purported to have been buried underground. No sooner had the team commenced digging for the arms, than they came under heavy gunfire attack by other Boko Haram elements within the area, which prompted immediate response from the security team.”
However, the injured survivors called on the government to ensure justice was done by investigating the matter and punish the attackers.
The survivors   on their hospital beds in Abuja,   insisted to Weekly Trust that they were innocent because they are not Boko Haram members.
Sani Abdulrahman from Safana in Katsina State, who was shot in the leg said: “the truth of the matter is that many of us sleep in the house. What happened was that on the fateful Wednesday, we learnt that some scavengers went to the house in the afternoon when we were away and stole some cables.
“They were caught by the security man in the house who said he couldn’t handle the matter by himself and decided to call the owner. When the man came, he said they (scavengers) should be allowed to go, but he said all of us should leave the house by next Wednesday. He threatened that if we don’t leave by next week, he would bring not police or SSS men but soldiers to chase us away,” he said.
Abdulrahman said barely 24 hours later, soldiers stormed the house at about 11.30pm and started shooting sporadically as a result of which many of them ran out for their lives only to be shot by the soldiers,” he explained.
Abubakar Auwal, who hails from Bichi Local Government Area  of Kano State, said most of the squatters were wheel-barrow pushers, auto-rickshaw (tricycle or keke NAPEP) drivers, labourers and traders who sleep in the house and leave as early as 6am for their various  businesses.
“We were just going about looking for our legitimate means of livelihood, but they came and attacked us. We’re about 200 who sleep in the house and there is nobody like Boko Haram among us,” he said.
Bashir Usman, who escaped unhurt from the house, said there were shootings in the area about two months ago, but armed robbers were suspected for the shootings.
“This isn’t the first time. Some people came about two months ago and started shooting at night, but we later learnt it was armed robbers who came to attack a neighbouring house,” he said. 
Secretary of the Garki Model Market Association, Murtala Abubakar, who with other market officials assisted the injured and buried those who died said  the incident was unfortunate as they can stand by their members who they were sure were not into anything nefarious activities, but known to be engaged in legitimate businesses and that the victims were mostly shot in the head, chest and abdomen.
The NACOMYO in a statement signed by its spokesman, Malam Suleiman Haruna, who said the killings have all the ingredients of an extra-judicial killings, reminded the government of a similar incident which took place eight years back (referring to the Apo Six).
“Our doubt is strengthened by interviews conducted by the media with residents and workers in the area who spoke to news men. The NACOMYO condemned terrorism and all other acts  of violence whether against individuals or the state. Nevertheless innocent people must not be slaughtered under the guise of a hunt for Boko Haram suspects,” he said.
Also, the Muslim Rights  Concern (MURIC) in a statement by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said report of the incident has all the ingredients of an extra-judicial killing and called for proper investigation.
The confirmation of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) that the controversial plot where the killings occurred was allocated to Ms. Adunni Oluwola Salisu in 2007 before being given development approval in 2009 put paid to linking the ownership of the uncompleted building to a Kaduna-based serving or retired Army General.
A top SSS official, however, confided in Weekly Trust that this does not mean that the building “may not actually belongs to another person other than Ms. Salisu.
The Chief of Army Staff Azubuike Ihejirika appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Thursday backed the fiercely contested claims by the SSS that soldiers and other operatives who fired and killed the eight and injured many others were first shot at, by the men they claim were members of Boko Haram, saying soldiers involved in the operation merely returned fire after coming under attack.
With the National Assembly and others investigating the controversy, Nigerians are desirous to know the truth of the matter and also wonder if it will not be a replica of the 2005 ‘Apo Six’.