By Evelyn Usman

LAGOS—Since the incident of September 16, 2015, when
nine operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS,
were reportedly ambushed and killed by vandals at Konu
area of Ikorodu, Lagos, occurred, normalcy seems to
have returned in the area as activities are still going on in
full swing.

While family members of the missing operatives allege
that officials of the DSS still claim that their men were
alive and that they were making frantic efforts to locate
their whereabouts, neither the police nor the government
has come out with a concrete pronouncement about the
fate of the DSS operatives.

Anguish and sorrow pervade homes
But same can not be said of the homes of the slain
operatives, as dead silence pervades everywhere, with
family members devastated beyond words. Anguish and
sorrow still hover over their abode like a thick darkness.

A chance meeting with some of the family members
showed that they are yet to come to terms with the true
position of the fate of their loved ones. This is because
the DSS reportedly informed them that their assumed
dead bread winners were still alive after all, in spite of
glaring evidence contradicting its assertion.
At the moment, there is mixed feeling of uncertainty and
fear in their respective homes as they look forward each
day with great expectation, to the warm embrace of their
loved ones . This is, if the assurance from DSS, is
anything to go by.

Family member opens up

Among those at cross roads are family members of one
of the missing operatives, identified simply as Obiora.
He told Vanguard that his light-complexioned brother
was one of the best hands when it came to cracking
hard cases such as high profile kidnap and murder
cases.

He said: “While earlier report had it that Obiora, alongside
his other colleagues, went to Konu area of Ikorodu, that
fateful day to effect the arrest of vandals who were
siphoning petroleum products from a broken pipeline
belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, we were reliably informed that they
were on a mission to track kidnappers of the wife of the
Deputy General Manager of THE SUN newspapers , Mrs
Toyin Nwosu, who was abducted by robbers who
invaded her Ago Okota home, two days earlier.

“The operatives described as the best hands for such
operation, were on the kidnappers trail, unfortunately,
they ran into an ambush by the vandals who opened fire
on sighting them. Even in the face of death, the
operatives were said to have gallantly repelled their
enemies. Surprisingly, since the incident occurred , no
official statement has been released by the DSS nor has
the issue been deliberated on at any level of
government.”

I spoke with Obiora two hours before the incident —
Brother
Worried by the seeming silence on the whereabouts of
his brother Obiora , and other operatives who went on the
suicidal mission , an upcoming hip-hop artist and actor,
Don Saint ,described the whole scenario as a horror
movie. He disclosed that few hours before the incident
was reported, he spoke with his brother, Obiora, on the
phone, and he disclosed that they were on a mission to
rescue Mrs Nwosu, unknown to him that the
conversation might be the last with him.

He said: “When I called my brother on that fateful day, he
told me they were in a hide-out around Ikorodu, tracking
kidnappers of The Sun newspaper’s Deputy Managing
Director’s wife. I called to discuss an issue with him. He
promised to get back to me at an appropriate time. My
sister also called him and he said same thing. But two
hours later, when I logged on to the internet, I was
shocked to my bone marrow to read the news of what
happened at Konu. Immediately, I called his line again to
ascertain the report. But it was not going.

“Two days later, I visited the DSS office at Magodo estate
and the person we saw told me and other family
members that came that ‘ they are alive and fine. ‘Don’t
mind the news you have read online. They went on a
mission. They are fine’ . Again, on Monday , September
21, 2015, I and other family members of the affected
operatives met with the State Director of DSS and he still
said same thing. By Tuesday, it will be one month that
my brother and other operatives went missing. The
painful aspect of it all is that the government they
worked for has not reached out to the families to know
how they are faring. My brother has a young wife and
two little children who keep asking me about the
whereabouts of their father.

“This is an evidence of the fact that we are in a country
where human life is not valued. Or how do you explain
the long silence from the DSS and government? If they
are alive, where are they ? Now, I know what families of
the missing CHIBOK girls are going through . This is like
a horror movie. Such will never happen in the advanced
world. My family has been broken since then. What we
need is an official report from the DSS . Let them tell us
what is happening.

Endless wait by aged parents

Obiora’s younger brother and immediate family in Lagos
are not alone in this state of anguish. His aged parents
back in Anambra State, as well as members of their
community, are also said to be in a state of shock. This
is because Obiora was described as the cynosure of all
eyes in both his family and the community at large.
According to a relative who also spoke on condition of
anonymity, “ We do not want to believe he is dead as
assured by the DSS. But our worry is that he has never
gone on any official duty and stayed this long. He is a
loving husband and father who always spoke with his
wife and children of ages one and three, on daily basis.
His intimidating height and build is the envy of every
rational thinking person.
Vanguard gathered that while the family members are
hoping to see their loved ones as assured by the DSS,
they have resorted to spiritual intervention through
prayers. It was gathered that the outcome of some of the
prayer houses showed positive light while others
enjoined the families to keep praying.

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/killing-of-dss-operatives-by-vandals-family-members-allege-negligence/

God be with you

Eyah

Why won't they be neglected when their boss is only concerned about how to invade the homes of PDP members and arrest all PDP witnesses at Election Tribunals. God help this country.

kemlily:
God be with you

this is not just a matter of " God be with you" No! it's about Responsibility and Sincerity.


our Government at all level has always tried to be IRRESPONSIBLE and INSINCERE and that is puttin it mildly.

I Give a Big shout out to the Guys that carry out those attack, if more of dem will be missing everyday I will be very happy.

If you ask me why I will tell you. One of the family brother says when it comes to cracking down of high ranking criminal his brother is good in it.

But his brother will not tell him that they normally use to go to people shop and arrest people just listening to a Radio station and at the end tell them to pay a ransom b4 releasing them. Is that not kidnapping to you.

his Brother will not tell him that they will just see someone on the road that have not committed any crime and tell the person to enter there van and they will take the person to a station and tell the people of the Guy to pay ransom before taking him on bail. Is that not kidnapping to you.

If I am lying those in Portharcourt. Can confirm my story.if they have been a victim of it.

When your brother and this friends will see some group of people that have done nothing to dem and just open fire and kill people and those people dey kill is someone's brother,sister,wife,Husband out there. because they are men with uniform and you want there people to keep there mouth shut. I think you are mad.

No police man is Innocent and police can Never ever be my friend maybe they are yours.

So if your bother done die cry well well. And after like 3 month you go forget am as others way him done kill too dey do.

That is why I like M kazs song ( Anything you do me somebody go do back to you)

Ok, next

This is what we face here in this part of ikorodu. These vandals are so fortified that no security operative can come into the community at will especially on uniform. They kill men of our Armed of Forces at sight. Infact our freedom has been trampled on and the government is doing nothing about our situation. Konu is SAMBISA in Lagos and the landlords are not ready to leave. I will implore all well meaning Nigerians to pray for Konu. Schools and religious settings have been shut because of the activities of these vandals. We are customed to hearing of gunshots every now and then.