… Says he’s not a terrorist
By Nicholas Ojo
Aishat Oyiza, the wife of one of the five persons allegedly arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) at Trademore Estate on Monday, Ibrahim Fari Shafiu, has refuted the claim circulating in the media that her husband is a terrorist. She said the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, ordered her husband’s arrest because he left the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Media had on Wednesday reported that Nigeria’s secret police, DSS, and United States Army uncovered boxes of explosives in an estate located in the Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory.
It was learnt that two pistols were also recovered from an apartment rented by an alleged terrorist at Trademore Estate in the capital city.
In a widely circulated notice online, the residents of the estate had been cautioned on the need to be security conscious.
“It’s no longer news that there was a High Powered Sting Operation in Phase 3 this afternoon, culminating in a complete shutdown of our estate. A combination of the American Army and our DSS team were responsible.
“We are unable to give full details of the reason(s) behind the operation, however, we can confirm that there was an allegation of terrorist activities. It is therefore desperately incumbent on every resident to remain vigilant, KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS and report any suspicious movement, person or activities to the Exco, Street Reps and/the Police.”
Federal Capital Territory Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Josephine Adeh, on Thursday described the news as Fake. “It is not true, it’s Fake News.”
DSS on Friday also denied having any joint operation with American soldiers.
The spokesperson for the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya, told PRNigeria that the Service did not have any joint operation with foreign troops.
“I can categorically tell you that we did not carry out any joint operation with American Soldiers as being widely reported in the media.
“Though we carried out an operation in an Abuja Estate with sister agencies, no foreign troops were involved,” he said.
During a visit to the Estate on Thursday, Quest Times gathered that the gunmen came with different cars and with at least 30 masked gunmen.
A security source told our correspondent that the gunmen first entered a building belonging to one assistant commissioner of police, noting that they assaulted the family and brought the children out in handcuffs before it was discovered that he was not the one.
However, Quest Times also spoke with Aishat, who said her husband is not a terrorist, stressing that the raid is political.
Aishat, a mother of two, explained that the gunmen dealt with her and other persons with her during the operation. She said they tied them and ordered them to lie down.
She said; “The gunmen wore black and were all masked up, but I can recognize two white men among them.
“We were six when they came in, my mother-in-law, my brother, my two children and my neighbour’s kid.
“They rough handled all of us tied us and ordered us to lie down including my sick mother-in-law who just came to Abuja for treatment and my children.
“They scattered our house and went away with my younger brother, Yusuf Abdulrahman who is an ND 2, Business administration student of Nasarawa Polytechnic.
“My brother was even about to go for clearance before the incident.
“They also went away with my mother-in-law’s purse and recharge cards, my money which is up to 350,000 thousand, a laptop and all our phones.
“My husband is not a troublemaker, but only has issues with Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello. The only people my husband had a problem with the Kogi State Governor and his Chief of Staff.
“He organized a program recently tagged ‘Say No to Violence in Egbira Land’. After the program, he started receiving threats from Kogi State Government, after which he defected to PDP.
“Till now we cannot reach out to them and we don’t know where they are, as the men that came to pick them were unidentified,” she noted.
Quest Times gathered that the victim recently dumped the ruling APC and joined the Peoples Democratic Party.
A source told our correspondent that Shafiu was working as a political thug for the governor before he left APC, adding that he was involved in many attacks on political opponents in Kogi State.
He asserted that they felt losing him to PDP would be disastrous, stressing that the Bello administration brought him out of prison in 2019.
Bello, had on October first 2019 granted state pardons to 31 inmates and commuted sentences of 13 others in custodial centres in the state and across the country.
Bello, who pronounced the pardon in his address to mark the Independence Day celebration, said the gesture was in the exercise of the prerogative of mercy conferred on him under Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).
He said the Kogi State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy Law, 1995, had visited several custodial centres in some states of the federation where condemned convicts and other categories of convicts are being kept, adding that the pardon was sequel to the council’s recommendations after scrutiny.
The governor also granted pardon and commutes to life imprisonment, others are kept in various custodial centres. Shafiu, the victim of the raid is one of them.
Quest Times reached out to Onogwu Muhammed, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Kogi State Governor, for his comments. However, he neither responded to our messages nor email at the time of filing this report.