SAN FRANCISCO, September 24, (THEWILL) – The Senate on Tuesday asked its Committees on National Security, Intelligence, Human Right and Judiciary to probe the killing of 10 persons by security operatives at an uncompleted building behind Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja last Friday.
Senate President, David Mark, asked the committees to conduct the probe, which would involve the State Security Service (SSS)and the Army.
The committee was also asked to obtain eyewitness testimonies from survivors and witnesses as the panel is expected to report back to plenary in two weeks.
The resolve to inaugurate the probe panel was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Sahabi Ya’ au (Zamfara/APC).
In his lead debate, he noted that: “eye witness accounts claimed that the midnight operation went horribly wrong when eight of the squatters were shot dead by the combined team of SSS operatives and the Army in an orgy of unrestrained shootings.”
According to Ya ‘au in the motion titled: “The Apo Killings; a Case of Extra Judicial Killing”, the accounts and claims have raised serious issues of human rights and use of Nigeria’s security services towards settling personal scores.
“The war on terror should not be converted to a platform for impunity, extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights,” Ya ‘au said.
Also contributing to the debate, Senator Sadiq Yar’Adua (Katsina/APC) said the laws of the country are constantly violated by those who are supposedly protecting the people. He added that the fight against terrorism should not be used as a licence for extra-judicial killing of innocent citizens.
“If we do not take action on this, one day some of our enemies will tell the Police or SSS that there are terrorists in this Chambers (Senate). We have the law against terrorism, but nobody has been prosecuted and brought to book. It is time for us to tell our security officials, we give them support but enough is enough.” Yar ‘Adua stated at plenary.
However, Senator Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno)while contributing declared that; “The signal being sent out there now is that Abuja is safe. It is not safe. And now we are doubting the authenticity or the claim by the security agencies.
“I live in Apo legislative quarters and I know the area very well. I wonder why the security agents did not cordone off the place and investigate before reacting to the claim which is unsubstantiated.”
However, Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), differed when he said “these are difficult times for Nigeria, the global community and the security agencies.”
He played out a linkage between the Apo incident and the West Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya and the Church bombing in Pakistan.
“It is a curious coincidence that this (Apo incident) is taking place after an alert that there will be terror attacks in some parts of the world. What we see in Apo could be a local issue but it may have deeper consequence,” he said.
Mark however cautioned, saying; “There are three issues here, first is terrorism which we condemn totally, secondly extra-judicial killings which we also condemn totally and the operational procedure which we don’t know what happened. All we are saying here is speculation, we must keep sentiment away from the issue and face facts by setting up a committee to know the facts”.
Curiously, there was no mention of the recent killing of 159 people in two roadside attacks on Benisheik, Borno state, by Boko Haram insurgents as well as the Nasarawa violence which has equally claimed scores in fatalities.
It was reported that the SSS claimed that Boko Haram was behind the Abuja shooting. SSS in a statement said security agents had gone to the uncompleted building where the shootout took place to recover arms and ammunition hidden in the ground when they came under fire.
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
