Nigeria: Probe Apo Killings; Civil Rights Congress tells Federal Government

Security Reports on Friday revealed that the Joint Task Force in Abuja engaged some suspected Boko Haram militants in a gun duel at an uncompleted building around the National Assembly Quarters in Apo. The militants who sustained various injuries but survived the assault claimed they are not members of the dreaded sect. Officials of the State Security Service were said to have quizzed some of the victims on their hospital beds.

NAN reports that The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to raise an independent judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the Friday killings at the Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja. A statement issued by the President of the congress, Shehu Sani, on Monday in Kaduna, said the conflicting claims by security agents and survivors of the alleged attack raised ethical and professional questions.

According to the statement, the claims must be properly determined. It added that “discretion, accountability and responsibility in the use of lethal force is indispensable in a free and democratic state.” “The state has a moral and constitutional duty to combat violence and terror and restore peace but not at the price of the lives of innocent persons.”

“If we accept the extra judicial killing of ‘insurgents’ by security agents, we have logically issued a licence for impunity.” “Fighting insurgency should not be an excuse to kill innocent persons and commit heinous atrocities with the seal or stamp of the state.” The statement noted that ‘so much blood has been spilled’ and urged the Federal Government to thoroughly investigate the matter and prosecute anyone found guilty.