The death toll of suspected ‘Boko Haram’ members shot in an uncompleted building at Apo Legislative quarters in Abuja last Friday, has increased to eight persons, with the death of another victim on Monday morning.
The deceased, who is known as Nasiru Adamu, died of gunshot wounds sustained around his abdomen at about 2am on Monday at the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja.
Security operatives last Friday had engaged the suspects in an alleged gun duel in an uncompleted building in Apo.
The Department of State Security had explained that its men had gone to the uncompleted building to recover some arms and ammunition said to have been buried under the ground.
But the death of the suspect coincide with the call by the Peoples Democratic Movement for an independent and thorough investigation into the said killings, as some of the survivors had denied being members of the Islamic sect.
The younger brother of the deceased, Suleiman Adamu, who was with other mourners at the Asokoro hospital, explained that his 30-year-old elder brother from Zamfara State, was married with a two-year-old daughter.
Suleiman, looking distraught, said his brother was a truck pusher and could not have been a Boko Haram member as claimed by security agents.
Speaking in Hausa language, he said: “Again, my brother is not a member of Boko Haram.
“He is a truck pusher.
“He goes to Mararaba Market or Deidei Market to help carry tomatoes and other items to people’s shops.
“He is a truck pusher.
“We are from Zamfara State.
“We have been in Abuja for about eight years and I was sleeping in Mabushi when they started calling me on my phone, around 2am, telling me that my big brother has been shot.
“I have been taking care of him.
“In the night, we were talking with him about his health.
“He was getting better.
“We were just waiting for him to get stronger.
“I then decided to come out for a few minutes.
“I must have dozed off.
“Then they called me in and told me he has died.”
In the wake of the killing, a former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had called for an independent investigation, stating that the shooting and the death of the suspects were suspicious.
Abubakar likened the death of the suspects to the police killing of some Igbo traders in 2006 till investigations exposed that the Igbo traders were not armed robbers as the police alleged.
The spokesperson of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar, had on Friday also said the officials of the department clashed with members of the Boko Haram sect and in the ensuing exchange of gun fire, seven members of the sect were killed with several others injured.
The PDM, while calling for an independent investigation to unravel the true identity of the suspects, said it was saddened by the dastardly and unnecessary killing of Nigerians by security agents out of mere suspicion.
The party called for an immediate stop to all extra-judiciary killings and urged security agents and all security organisations to do the hard work of apprehending criminals instead of killing them.
The PDM said: “Killing criminals without trial does not solve crimes.
“It only deprives security agencies of the information needed to understand and preempt future breaches of the law.”
According to the National Chairman of the party, Mallam Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, in a statement signed by his Media Advisor, Alaba Yusuf: “While we acknowledge the current security challenges in the country, particularly the menace posed by insurgents, kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal gangs, caution must not be thrown to the wind by security personnel where human lives are at stake.
“We at PDM demand immediate, independent and thorough investigation of the Abuja massacre by credible, non-governmental organisations. We also demand that previous extra-judicial killings elsewhere in the nation be probed so that all perpetrators of this heinous crime could be brought to book.”
The PDM, however, urged all local and international non-governmental organisations to do their job and remain vigilant “by beaming their searchlights on agents of the state, who have created a reputation for themselves for avoidable miscarriage of justice and human rights violation in Nigeria.”
ThisDay.
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