Nigerians woke up Friday morning to the news of a midnight shootout at a street behind Zone E of the Legislative Quarters in Abuja’s Apo district, a location where mansions of highly placed citizens, especially federal legislators are found in excess.

As residents were asleep in the wee hours of September 20, heavy gunfire rented the air, a situation uncommon in such highbrow occupied by the nation’s elites. The unpleasant sounds with its attendant echo sent jitters down the spine of those awake already. The time was 3:00am.

Within an hour, no fewer than seven persons had been felled by the bullets of the security agents. More than ten others were injured. The federal agents recorded no casualty.

There has been a huge outcry over the incident. While many people believe that the onslaught was against innocent citizens, federal officers say they acted on an intelligence report that the house they raided – a building used as abode by squatters – was shelter to some members of the Boko Haram sect.

However, the surviving victims maintain the onslaught was connected to an earlier warning by the owner of the uncompleted one-storey building, a top army officer.

“He had asked us to leave his property immediately,” a survivor told newsmen from his hospital bed at the Asokoro General Hospital.

But the State Security Service explained that it acted on information obtained from Boko Haram suspects, Mohammed Adamu and Kamal Abdullahi.

Marilyn Ogar, agency’s spokesperson, said officers acted on a tip-off by the duo that weapons cache were stocked in the building.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an SSS officer who was part of team, told DailyPost that the aim of the operation, carried out with the assistance of the Nigeria Army, was to recover arms buried at a cemetery by an influential Boko Haram member

The suspect, the arms

“Before the raid, we had placed that area under surveillance some time. One of the suspects we arrested earlier confirmed that a strong member of the sect, in company of his foot soldiers, was squatting in that building.

“He described the guy as a rugged fellow who would not go down without a fight. That several attempts at catching him failed because he’s good with weapons and usually escapes arrest.

“This suspect also disclosed that the guy in question buried the arms at a cemetery close by, that he and others would open fire if they see any movement around the cemetery especially if it was not during the day.

“We have never been to the particular house before the operation. No SSS officer would say that, so don’t believe anything contrary. We, we only went round to figure out how we’ll move in.

“But I can confirm we kept tab on the quarters from Tuesday September 17 through Thursday night.

The shootings

“The truth is it was the Boko Haram guys within that house that started firing when they heard movement. We are professionals; we know what is at stake. So we could not have gone there and open fire just like that. The SSS always respect the rule of engagement.

“As we were digging the suspected location of the armoury, several gunshots were directed at us. We had no choice than to defend ourselves.

“It was that point we realized that the suspect told the truth when he warned that we would be attacked. If you check, virtually all the survivors were hit at their back, buttock, or leg.


“This tells you that they were probably the innocent ones who were trying to flee because some of the occupants actually confronted us.

Timing of the raid

“Firstly, the operation was ours not the military’s; we called them in. We chose middle of the night for two reasons. One: To avoid civilian casualty or stray bullet incidence that may arise from exchange of the anticipated gun battle. Two, those guys are mostly found there at dusk.

“The thing is they pretend to be law-abiding citizens during the day. Agreed that, they all have what they do for a living but most use this to cover their evil deed. You’ll find that some sell suya, sachet water, or do ‘mai ruwa’ (water-selling cart-pushers) and ‘mai shayi’ (food sellers). Others hawk goods in traffic, clean vehicle windscreen, sell fruits, ride keke (tricycles), etc.

“And let me add that the same suspect who gave us the information and took us to Apo legislative quarters is a keke rider at Garki market. In fact, he was busy loading passengers the day we picked him up. Some were already seated, while he was calling for more.

“So you see that the claim that they have a means of livelihood is a decoy. True, some in that building may be clean, but going by the information we had, a good number of insurgents were in that building.

Survivors’ claim of innocence

“We hear such statements every day. It is because this one happened in Abuja, that’s why some of them are looking for sympathy of Nigerians and international community. It is for the attention.

“In Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Kano and other places where the sects strike, you have cases like this. They all occupy a building, tell you they have one job or the other and before you blink, you’ll find weapons everywhere.

“More worrisome is the age of the suspects. You will be shocked if you see the number of young chaps that we’ve arrested. These are confirmed Boko Haram members! Not only can they handle a rifle, they can use well.

Presence of Boko Haram in the Federal Capital Territory

“They are very well around. Anyone denying that they are not present is deceiving his or herself. We recovered some arms at the Apo raid, which means these guys have more in other discreet places in Abuja.

“You never can tell; a man that offers service to you may be member of a sect and that’s terrible because when they strike, it’s always disastrous.

“There is a check point at the entrance of the quarters but these guys still manage to move in arms. That means it’s no longer a small problem.

Advice for government

“Now is the time for the government to spend more on intelligence gathering. In as much as the funding for security has increased, it is still not enough. I have faced insurgents many times and trust me, those guys are ruthless.

“You know they are like guerrillas; they strike and run away. Before you call Police or any other outfit, they are gone and the damage is done.

“Government should not wait until insurgents go about shooting people in public places.


http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/09/22/exclusive-how-apo-raid-happened-sss-officer-who-took-part-in-operation/

Where is Sahara reporters and their fabricated lies.

luvinhubby: Where is Sahara reporters and their fabricated lies.

Don't mind those goons...

This is even part of the problem. When security forces do their job and succeed, rather than commend them, they'r criticised and distracted with wicked media propaganda. When Boko Haram succeeds with their attacks, the security forces are again criticised for failure. Head or tail, our security forces are criticised while Boko Haram have a field day.

It is only in Nigeria that journalists sit in the comfort of their offices and determine who is a terrorist and who is not. I'm just fed up with the mess in this country.

Rubbish and nonsense only aimed at covering up the murder of innocent people through their own incompetence.

You raided a building occupied by Boko Haram members, some sustained injuries and went to the hospital without a heavy security presence in this hospital. Where are the weapons?

You can tell that story to fools like Taharqa, it has no place in any sane mind.

ARRANT NONSENSE,THE SSS MAN WILL BECOME VISIBLE AS SOON AS INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION COMMENCES.COVER UP WILL NOT WORK.THIS IS HOW IT STARTED DURING THE DAYS OF OBJ WHEN INNOCENT IGBOS WERE KILLED IN APO.

ballabriggs: Rubbish and nonsense only aimed at covering up the murder of innocent people through their own incompetence.

You raided a building occupied by Boko Haram members, some sustained injuries and went to the hospital without a heavy security presence in this hospital. Where are the weapons?

You can tell that story to fools like Taharqa, it has no place in any sane mind.

Don't mind the fools who are they deceiving ? The latest is that FCT minister has offered to take care the medical bill of the injured. So you mean FCT will knowingly go and take care of an injured Boko Haram members ? Who is fooling who ?

Once I saw dailypost as d source of d story,I knew it wud b concocted,poorly scripted,unedited lies to support govt position.Its just like expecting anything to air any view contrary to d that of d govt in power.How do organisations like dailypost come up wt stuff above& expect any sane person wt intact faculties to bliv it.

“The thing is they pretend to be law-abiding
citizens during the day. Agreed that, they all
have what they do for a living but most use
this to cover their evil deed. You’ll find that
some sell suya, sachet water, or do ‘mai
ruwa’ (water-selling cart-pushers) and ‘mai
shayi’ (food sellers). Others hawk goods in
traffic, clean vehicle windscreen, sell fruits,
ride keke (tricycles), etc.

I detest those zombies called abokis... If only they could all be annihilated off the shore of this country... I've never liked them for one day.

Dirty, smelly, stinking, haggard, redundant, retrogressive, goro chewing buffons.

They won't go to school, they keep hating on christians for no just cause, they constitute nuisance to the society, they have no regards for human lives.

A public display of the confiscated arms would make all of this believable.

emmysenior:

I detest those zombies called abokis... If only they could all be annihilated off the shore of this country... I've never liked them for one day.

Dirty, smelly, stinking, haggard, redundant, retrogressive, goro chewing buffons.

They won't go to school, they keep hating on christians for no just cause, they constitute nuisance to the society, they have no regards for human lives.

This is naijas biggest problem,hatred for one another.i leave close to this scene and government is wrong to say they are boko haram.yes they may have 1 or 2 people with questionable character,however,govt went about it in a wrong way perhaps they have an agenda to fulfill.religion,education and pure hatred for 1 another should be isolated especially religion.please let us understand that our leaders use s channels like this bring animosity amongst us whilst they retire to their homes rich and satisfactorily.

Tinubu dogs will support ANYTHING as long as it discredits the FG in their mind. No wonder they'r having epileptic seizure on this thread. Yeye dey smell.

Where are the weapons confisticated at the scene? Where is the suspect they went to arrest?

They were shot at first and no casualty was recorded from their side, not even a scratch of bullet on their vehicles. These guys think we are fools.

Most times I ask mysfelf if some Nigerians still reason. The. Security Ageencies were esstablished to protect lives and not to destroy, what will they gain by killing innocent citizens. They were led into d scene of d incident by men in detention, who had made helpful statement regarding their memberrs at large, and about arms buried there.

If they weere not proactive enough to have botched ttheir planned attack, maybe Abj would have beeen on fire by now.yet aall they get from us is condemnation
If Abuja was attacked by these insurgents, by now we would have been calling for d heads of security chiefs. When security operatives get killed in d line of duty, how many threadd do we create to celebrate their patrotism, and resolve to protect us?
It is only in nigeria that we prefer officers to die than criminals. Its unfortunate

Yet another Jacob (yasoba in Igbo) death from the hands of a Hamite police. All you children of judah and jerusalem that worship the image of white jesus, more of these is coming for you. Since you won't turn away and repent. Repent, stop going to those churches of babylon.

ibsmooth: COVER UP!! COVER UP!! COVER UP !!BY THE TIME JONATHAN LEAVES OFFICE,WE WILL UNDERSTAND WHO WAS REALLY BOKO HARAM.AZAZI GAVE AN UPDATE INTO BOKO HARAM AND THE REST IS HISTORY.THEY SHOULD SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT RATHER THAN THIS FURA AND AKARA STORY.LESS I FORGET,WE HAVE IT ON GOOD AUTHORITY THAT GOODLUCK AND HIS MERCENARIES ARE SPYING ON NIGERIANS.IT WILL NOT DETER US FROM SAYING WHAT IS RIGHT,GAME ON.

Zombie! You are the one to push Jonathan out of office abi?
The SSS guy is saying the obvious truth by the way... All those dirty, smelly, nuisance goro chewer should be annihilated off the shore of this country

Controversy:
Zombie! You are the one to push Jonathan out of office abi?
The SSS guy is saying the obvious truth by the way... All those dirty, smelly, nuisance goro chewer should be annihilated off the shore of this country

O

D

E

This story stinks of cover up... Its unfortunate that they insult those they murdered by trying to frame them up. How do you open fire on unarmed citizens, and then try to use stereotype as a justification. Heads should roll because of this unforgivable blunder

luvinhubby: Where is Sahara reporters and their fabricated lies.

That is a very pertinent question, i am serious skeptic, but we must give the DSS the benefit of doubt in this one because of their tract records, we must not be emotional about the whole thing, maybe there are some things that are not for us to consume,u no how some Nigerians get big mouth now..

ichidodo: A public display of the confiscated arms would make all of this believable.

If we don't believe the story of the DSS, it means we didn't believe their successes in the past

[b]“Firstly, the operation was ours not the military’s; we called them in. We chose middle of the night for two reasons. One: To avoid civilian casualty or stray bullet incidence that may arise from exchange of the anticipated gun battle. Two, those guys are mostly found there at dusk.

“The thing is they pretend to be law-abiding citizens during the day. Agreed that, they all have what they do for a living but most use this to cover their evil deed. You’ll find that some sell suya, sachet water, or do ‘mai ruwa’ (water-selling cart-pushers) and ‘mai shayi’ (food sellers). Others hawk goods in traffic, clean vehicle windscreen, sell fruits, ride keke (tricycles), etc.

“And let me add that the same suspect who gave us the information and took us to Apo legislative quarters is a keke rider at Garki market. In fact, he was busy loading passengers the day we picked him up. Some were already seated, while he was calling for more.

“So you see that the claim that they have a means of livelihood is a decoy. True, some in that building may be clean, but going by the information we had, a good number of insurgents were in that building.

Survivors’ claim of innocence

“We hear such statements every day. It is because this one happened in Abuja, that’s why some of them are looking for sympathy of Nigerians and international community. It is for the attention.

“In Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Kano and other places where the sects strike, you have cases like this. They all occupy a building, tell you they have one job or the other and before you blink, you’ll find weapons everywhere.[/b]


The obvious was surely stated above, and without sentiments, as Nigerians we must be divorce of bias. Reports and evidence abound across states of the federation, of arrest of Boko Haram Elements who have been dislodged from their strongholds in some north east states, for instance some where caught around Badia - Ijora area of Lagos state not too long, even at ogere in ogun states and recently at Alaba Rago area, close to Lagos state university (LASU) Ojo, in my area along Lagos -Badagry expressway. Without any ethnic and religious sentiments, one has to be security conscious and alert of the antics of these young Hausa guys living close by and who during the day engage in one menial job or the other, however though, some of them use these avenues as their legitimate means of survival, but must we wait for these Boko Haram elements to strike before our security agencies act, then same Nigerians we start condemning for inefficiency and lack of proactiveness.

Let's ponder on this as discerning thinkers, if the SSS and Military operatives had wanted to kill or massacre all the occupants in the uncompleted building on the said operation, would they not have done it successfully, killing all squatters outrightly?

ibsmooth: YOU ARE NOTHING BUT FRAY OF PERFIDY.WHAT HAS KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE IN THE NAME BOKO HARAM GOT TO DO WITH HATRED?BE SPECIFIC AND DON'T BE MYOPIC IN YOUR REASONING

And those who Boko Haram members kill everyday are not "innocent" people abi? Those ones are "guilty" people abi? You mean to tell me that because "innocent" people are living together with Boko Haram members, security forces should not do their work abi? So they should fold their arms and allow the terrorists to start attacks in Abuja, just because innocent people would be affected. Hmmmmmm

I don't want to be hasty in my judgement, but one thing i am sure is that the DSS is a professional organization that has be doing this country proud, i don't think they can be so careless to the killing of innocent citizens just like that, we must separate emotions from facts, we may never know our enemies are within us...we should be very careful on whatever we say

I. Heard that after public outcry the scene of crime has been taken over from DSS and the army, the police and NIA are now investigating the DSS, army and the accused, house has also been declared no go area to even unauthorised security men.

It obviuosly smell of conspiracy

for along will the innocent be killed in nigeria by police and militant. wrong information and wrong place at the wrong time.

Joel.:
for along will the innocent be killed in nigeria by police and militant. wrong information and wrong place at the wrong time.

For how long will the innocent be killed by members of Boko Haram sect? This is a question you have not bothered to ask. Should the security agents have rather allowed them to perpetrate their evil without being checked?

These insurgents usually hide under the cover of jobs like cobbling, food and water vendors and transporters (keke and taxi drivers), but in actual sense, they are insurgents and they must never for any reason be given a chance to operate. NEVER!