Nigeria’s DSS Faulted On Alleged IPOB Abduction, Murder and Secret Burial of 5 Hausa-Fulanis in Abia

Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Service (DSS) which is known for its silence on the persistent murders, kidnaps and heinous crimes by Hausa/Fulani herdsmen has come under criticism for seeking to implicate the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the alleged abduction, murder and secret burial of five Fulani cattle herders in Isuikwuato, Abia State.

The notorious Fulani cattle herders, already branded as dangerous terrorists, by international observers, have been on a rampage across Nigeria killing, maiming, raping and robbing indigenes of their host communities.

According to recent news reports, “militants from the Fula ethnic group are believed to have killed at least 1,229 people in Nigeria in 2014, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI), which ranked the African nation as the world’s third most terrorised country. The Fulani militants, together with terror group Boko Haram, were responsible for more than 7,000 deaths that occurred in Nigeria in 2014.”

Reacting to the DSS allegations contained in a statement issued on Saturday, the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) said in a statement from Onitsha that the DSS has proven its bias by focusing on unproven allegations against a section while keeping silent on the known sadistic and aggressive tendency of another favoured group.

Signed by the Intersociety Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., the release stated:

“In Criminology, “dark sides or figures of crimes” are totality of crimes reported to the police but not recorded in the crime statistics or records of the Police Force for primordial, nepotistic, incompetence and corruptive reasons. In the subject under discussion, captioned and underlined above, dark sides inherent in the latest DSS public statement in which it accused the IPOB of masterminding the abduction, murder and shallow burial of five “Hausa-Fulani” citizens in Isuikwuato LGA of Abia State; are singling out of citizens of a particular section of the country and their alleged abduction, murder and shallow burial as deserving national securitisation attention and urgent concerns; while trashing others in similar category or fate into the dark sides dustbin.

“The literal meanings and summaries of the DSS latest public statement are: (1) there are indiscriminate State actor and non-State actor related killings going on in Abia State; (2) there are indiscriminate dumping of murdered citizens in burrow pits and shallow graves in Abia State; (3) there are indiscriminate shallow mass graves in Isuikwuato LGA of Abia State where the Service discovered five lifeless bodies of the “Hausa-Fulani” citizens and other shallow graves containing over 50 yet-to-be identified others; (4) IPOB has resorted to reprisal killings and armed violent group; (5) alleged perpetrators of the said abduction, murder and shallow burial of “five Hausa-Fulani” citizens are still on the prowl; (6) Hausa-Fulani natives are the first class citizens in Nigeria deserving special government protection and concerns, while other natives particularly Igbos are second class citizens deserving no State protection, attention and concerns; (7) among others.

“Further, the DSS publication has completely vindicated the recent position of ours (International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law) that Abia State is riddled with indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilian citizens and dumping of their lifeless bodies in shallow graves or burrow pits. In February 2016, 16 bodies of murdered citizens suspected to be members of IPOB were discovered and pictured in two communities close to Aba in Abia State. Informed alarms were raised, leading to our detailed compendium of facts and text to the Federal Government; yet no response till date. We went further to bring the attention of the Government of Abia State via a letter; again, nothing was done, except setting the corpses ablaze to erase traces of culpability. Just recently, there was another report of discovery of eight more dead bodies dumped in fold pit in the border town of Etche in Rivers State. The Community is between Abia, Imo and Rivers State.

“Unlike the DSS account, which originated and ended in text with no pictorial, video and other graphic backup pieces of evidence; ours was statistically and pictorially presented with video clips. Even though the DSS account is characterized with inherent minuses and flaws, but we are tempted to not to discard it because in crime statistics and its management; DSS account is treated as official crime statistics, despite its inherent flaws. The DSS account under reference is also terminally sick in reliability, validity, credibility and reality. It is also inter-service encroachment oriented.

“By statutory establishment, the DSS functions are strictly restricted to interior intelligence, protection of VIPs and oversight or auxiliary functions in the areas ofcrimes against the State and public stability; and certainly not street crimes (i.e. crime against persons, such as murder, abduction, etc). In the instant case, the best the DSS would have done was to share basic intelligence or outcome of its preliminary investigation with the Homicide Department of the Nigeria Police Force; assuming the Service was the first security intelligence outfit to be alerted by complaining parties (if any). In standard criminal investigation management, two dominant ways of criminal reporting or complaints are by operational beat or citizen report.

“That is to say that the DSS magisterially usurped and encroached into an area outside its statutory and operational mandate; leading to quackery issuance of the public statement, quackery presentation of same with quackery and hasty conclusion (i.e. linking the alleged crime to IPOB) Strictly speaking, “crimes of abduction, murder and unlawful interment” reside with the Homicide Department of the Nigeria Police Force under the Force/State Criminal Investigation Department (FCID or SCID) and the office of the Director of Coroner’s Inquest of a State and not the DSS. The DSS may supplement (not supplant) the roles of the Nigeria Police Force in intelligence gathering and sharing particularly in the area of abduction (only if abduction element is so contained in the instant case). There is nowhere in the DSS structure and establishment (i.e. National Security Intelligence Agencies Act of 1986) where “the Homicide Department” is located, except the Nigeria Police Force.

“Therefore, the only indisputable fact that we can make out of the DSS public statement under reference, is that “Abia State is presently riddled with indiscriminate killings and dumping of those unlawfully killed citizens in shallow graves and burrow pits”. This stark truth is also within the reach of non State actors or “unofficial crime statisticians or sources”. As for the true identities and nativities of those allegedly murdered and shallowly buried as well as those who allegedly killed them, as told by the DSS; it is statutorily and professionally left for the Homicide Department of the Nigeria Police Force to determine same through impartial and in-depth investigations. Further to this is when and how they were murdered, which reside in the hands of criminal pathologists and office of the Director of Coroner’s Inquest in Abia State.

“The DSS public statement failed woefully in criminology and criminal homicide to answer the following questions: How were the “five Hausa-Fulani” citizens abducted, murdered and shallowly buried by “IPOB” (i.e. were they shot, beheaded, strangulated, clubbed, poisoned, macheted or lynched)? Why were they abducted, murdered and shallowly buried by “IPOB in Isuikwuato LGA of Abia State? What are the identities of “fifty others” the Service said it found scattered in other mass graves in Isuikwuato LGA of Abia State? Where are the live pictures and families of the “five Hausa-Fulani” citizens it said were abducted, murdered and shallowly buried in Isuikwuato LGA of Abia State by IPOB? Where were they abducted and murdered before being shallowly buried in Isuikwuato forests? What are their communities, LGAs and States of origin in the North? Have their corpses been exhumed and kept where?

“Until concrete and satisfactory answers are provided and until the Homicide Department of the Nigeria Police Force and the office of the Abia State Director of Coroner’s Inquest step in to unravel these, the DSS public statement under reference will remain thousands of miles away from science of reality, reliability, validity and credibility. This is more so when the Service has earned national and international notoriety in spearheading the use of judicial and structural violence against the Indigenous People of Biafra or IPOB, its leadership and teeming supporters across the country particularly in the Southeast and the South-South Zones of Nigeria. It may most likely be another way of “giving a dog a bad name so as to hang it”. The outcome of our demanded investigation shall tell.

“In all, it remains our resolute position that killing of any Nigerian citizen outside the law irrespective of his or her tribe, colour, sex, age or religion; whether by State actor or non-State actor is frowned at and condemned at all times. Worst of the condemnation is class-treatment of Nigerian citizens by the country’s security and other law enforcement agencies and officers of the government; whereby citizens of Igbo origin are treated as if they are sub humans and destined to be killed like fowls, while those of Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba origins are kingly treated and protected by the State using our collective or common resources.”

Reacting to the DSS allegations, a Nigerian-American security expert in Houston, Texas who preferred anonymity said:

“General Muhammadu Buhari’s DSS is so predictable. Recall that for some weeks now, there has been several killings of farmers in their own land by fulani herdsmen in various parts of Nigeria. No investigation, no arrests were carried out in those circumstances whether at Agatu, Benuue State, Delta or Edo States. In fact, the latest killing by Fulanis in Awgu, Enugu State was followed by the kidnap of 2 women by the same Fulani. 76 Awgu men were enraged and met to discuss the attack on their people. They found themselves in prison. Reverend Fathers and Sisters were kidnapped in Enugu State by the same murderous group. The DSS carried no investigations or issued any statement on those heinous actions.”

“Four days ago, when I heard a rumour that 5 fulanis were abducted at Abia State. I knew that the government would take questionable actions including making insinuations and inciting comments while pretending to have found out what happened. Deep down, I felt there would be a conspiracy theory. But I prayed that this time, I should be proved wrong. Yes, when you are raised in a country without love, and you are aware of your political environment, when you read about past events and about how General Buhari once confronted Lam Adesina over a similar scenario and asked him (Lam), “why are your people killing my people” in Oyo, you would always think like me”.

He continued: “The alleged murder of the five Fulanis has been blamed on IPOB, a group of people clamouring for a sovereign Biafran state and whose activities have always been devoid of battle and war as is the case with the AK-47-wielding herdsmen. All they use is the press and coercion by speech as far as the world knows. But the gestapo-style DSS have designed a ploy to blame them. Watch out for the next episode! Suddenly the DSS is now effective. Suddenly, investigations now get concluded. You notice that out of desperation they (DSS) said five Fulanis were found but named only four. That is error number one. The DSS has now made itself a Fulani gestapo or what do they think they are doing? When have they ever solved an abduction case successfully? What exactly is DSS doing its last pronouncement? So the DSS now can find kidnapped people the many people kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen are yet t be accounted for by the DSS?”

The security expert concluded: “Let us assume they (DSS) found a mass grave. How did they determine that IPOB was behind anything? Could it be the mass graves of IPOB members killed by Buhari’s Gestapo? How many Fulani kidnapping and murder cases have the DSS actively investigated and solved? The bloodthirstiness of these people is driving them insane and they don’t even know it. Full of so much innuendos, the DSS through its statement, is showing their true colour as a Fulani-serving outfit to be taken very seriously in their mission to impose Fulani domination by the instrument of state.”

Below, is the DSS release that elicited the reactions:

DSS: Arrest of Boko Haram co-founder Al-Barnawi and IPOB killing of Fulani herdsmen

A PRESS RELEASE

This Service wish to inform the general public that further to its efforts to stem the tide of terrorism in the Country, it has recorded another major breakthrough in the arrest of one Mohammed USMAN, widely known as Khalid AL-BARNAWI, alias KAFURI/ NAZIRU/ ALHAJI YAHAYA/MALLAM DAUDA/ALHAJI TANIMU. 2. Khalid AL-BARNAWI was apprehended by this Service on 1st April, 2016, in Lokoja, Kogi State, while hiding under a false cover. AL-BARNAWI was a founding member of the Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid Da’wah Wa’l-Jihad (Boko Haram) and later the Amir of the break-away faction, Jama’at Ansarul Muslimim Fi Biladi Sudan (JAMBS). 3. Khalid AL-BARNAWI is a trained terrorist commander, who has been coordinating terrorist activities in Nigeria, while talent-spotting and recruiting vulnerable young and able Nigerians for terrorist training by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in North African States and the Middle-East. 4. Subject was involved in many terrorist attacks in States of the Federation, including Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Sokoto and FCT-Abuja. This resulted in the killing and maiming of innocent citizens of this Country. ALBARNAWI is also responsible for the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja, on 26th August, 2011; the kidnapping of two European civil engineers in Kebbi State in May, 2011, and their subsequent murder in Sokoto State; the kidnap of a German engineer, Edgar RAUPACH in January, 2012, the kidnap and murder of seven expatriate staff of Setraco Construction Company at Jama’are, in Bauchi State in February, 2013, the attack of Nigerian troops at Okene in Kogi State, while on transit to Abuja for an official assignment. 5. Meanwhile, subject would soon be charged to Court to face his charges after investigation is completed. 6. This arrest is a major milestone in the counter-terrorism fight of this Service. This arrest has strengthened the Service’s resolve that no matter how long and far perpetrators of crime and their sponsors may run, this Service in collaboration with other sister security agencies, will bring them to justice. 7. In another development, the Service has uncovered the heinous role played by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in the abduction/kidnap of five Hausa-Fulani residents, namely Mohammed GAINAKO, Ibrahim MOHAMMED, Idris YAKUBU, and Isa Mohammed RAGO at Isuikwuato LGA in Abia State. 8. The abducted men were later discovered at the Umuanyi forest, Abia State, where they were suspected to have been killed by their abductors and buried in shallow graves, amidst fifty (50) other shallow graves of unidentified persons. Arrest and investigation conducted so far, revealed that elements within the IPOB, carried out this dastardly action. 9. It is pertinent therefore to alert the general public that IPOB, is gradually showing its true divisive colour and objectives, while steadily embarking on gruesome actions in a bid to ignite ethnic terrorism and mistrust amongst non-indigenes in the South-East region and other parts of the country. Following this act, tension is currently rife among communal stakeholders in the State with possibilities of spillover to other parts of country. 10. Against the foregoing, the Service will not hesitate to act decisively within its statutory mandate to ensure that the sponsors and perpetrators of this action are apprehended and prosecuted for their crime. Accordingly, law-abiding citizens are enjoined to go about their civil duties and businesses freely, as efforts are being intensified by security agencies to maintain law and order in the State and across the Federation. — THANK YOU,

Tony Opuiyo DSS, Abuja. 9th April, 2016