An eye-witness Mr. Gambo Idris on Thursday gave a horrific picture of the controversial shooting by security operatives in Apo area Abuja in which 8 persons lost their lives.
Idris, a tricycle rider who narrated his own account of what took place, said he witnessed the shooting of his neighbour in the stomach by armed men after they had surrounded the location at about 12.00am from inside his room.
“I saw three masked men in black uniform shooting a co-tenant in the stomach,” Idris said during the hearing organised by the National Human Rights Commission.
He said he stayed in the room with another man till the men left and they saw the intestines of the man they (the uniformed masked men) had shot.
Idris, who said the whole operation lasted for about an hour, said the survivors escaped the buildings for safety at “Gwari Hill” after waiting for 30 minutes to be sure the security men had left.
It was after that that the policemen with flashlights went to the hill calling out for them to come down as they were there to help them.
Moments later, the police told Idris and other survivors to go back to the hill to avoid the probable return of the attackers. The police also left the scene due to the same fear.
He claimed that over a hundred squatters were sleeping in the buildings every night by paying N200 weekly, but denied allegation that there were arms within the building, saying their ‘tenant’ used to check their rooms every morning.
He added that the soldiers that came to the building later in the day couldn’t find any arm there.
Also speaking, the Chairman of tricycle and motorcycle riders’ union in Abuja, Alhaji Usman Buba Goza, said though the organisation recognise the need for government to take care of security of lives and properties, it would not condone what he termed attempt by government to cover up the murder of its innocent members.
He said the association was waiting to receive the report of the senate’s investigation into the matter, warning that if those involved in the killings were not brought to book and the victims and their families compensated within 72 hours, his union will stage a nationwide protest.
Chairman National Human Right Commission Mr Chidi Odinkalu assured that justice would be done on the matter. He told the association to jettison the ultimatum and the protest as the hearing was not the proper avenue for such a representation
