Apo Killings: Nigerian Human Rights Commission Indicts DSS, Army.

The Nigerian Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has indicted the Nigerian Army, the Directorate of State Security and the Attorney-General of the Federation for the unlawful killing of eight squatters at an uncompleted building in Apo area of Abuja.

Presenting the report of the commission, the Chairman of the Commission, Dr Chidi Odinkalu, said that the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Service had no credible evidence to tag the eight youngsters killed last September as agents of the Boko Haram terror group.

The commission also awarded the sum of 10million Naira each, to be paid within one month to families of the eight deceased persons and 5million Naira each to the eleven persons injured in the attack.

The eight squatters lost their lives in a military raid on September 20, 2013, for allegedly being members of Boko Haram.

The security forces claimed at the time that over 100 Boko Haram fighters led by one Suleiman were hiding and planning an attack on Abuja from the building, and had buried arms at the nearby Gudu Cemetery.

However, in its final report, the National Human Rights Commission discredited the claims and indicted the security agencies for unlawfully terminating the lives of innocent Nigerians.

Although the Assistant Director, Legal Services of the Defence Headquarters, Colonel Godwin Anyalemechi, said that the findings of the commission would be contested in court, lawyer to the victims, Michael Akpan and the Chairman of National Commercial Tricycles and Motorcycles Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria, Usman Gwoza, applauded the findings of the commission.

The commission also over-turned the order to banish some of the youths from Abuja, saying that the security forces had no power to banish citizens.