A video showing how vandals murdered and buried seven operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), in the line of duty, in 2015, was yesterday played in court.
The 10-minute video recording of the capture and interrogation of the alleged culprits, raiding of their hideouts by security agents and pictures of gravesites was played before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of Ikeja High Court, Lagos.
Now, standing trial for the alleged murder of the seven DSS officers are two Ijaw men – Clement Ododomu (25) and Tiwei Monday (26).
The accused were arraigned on an eight-count of murder and possession of firearms contrary to Section 223 and 298 (3) of the Criminal Law, Cap. C. A Vol. 3, laws of Lagos State 2015.
One of the defendants, Monday, identified in the video, said: “We killed the seven officers. We shot them one after the other and buried them inside three graves in the Barracks. Our commander’s name is Owusi.”
A compact disc, containing the video recording and the death certificate of the victims were tendered as exhibits before the court.
Addressing the court on the content of the video recording, Saheed Adetunji, an investigation officer with the DSS, said that seven out of a team of nine officers sent on a kidnap rescue mission, were ambushed by vandals and taken captive at Abule Oba.
Adetunji said that the seven captured operatives were murdered and buried in three shallow graves; three men were put in one grave, while the remaining four were buried in pairs.
The investigation officer said burnt body amours (bulletproof vests), shoes, fez caps belonging to the victims, and a Prado jeep, were recovered inside a creek, known as Barracks, where the vandals used as their camping ground.
While being led in evidence by the Lagos State prosecutor, Y. G Osuala, the witness said, “I know the two defendants in the murder of seven DSS officers namely: Uzor Nwafor, Kayode Oladimeji, Luke Akande, Adebayo Adeniyi, Benjamin Mafo, and Simeon Owolabi. I can’t remember the name of the last officer.
“The incident occurred on September 14, 2015, when the Lagos State Command of DSS received a distress report from one Mr. Nwosu from the Sun Newspaper about the kidnap of his wife at their residence.
“The Lagos State Command immediately dispatched a nine-man team to carry out a surveillance operation to ascertain the location of the kidnappers that were negotiating for a ransom.
“However, in the evening, about 6 O’clock, one of the team members, Mr. Martins Ajayi, sent a distress text message to the station saying, ‘We have been ambushed by vandals and our weapons have been seized.’
“When Mr. Ajayi returned to the command, he told us that they were conducting surveillance on some areas at Abule Oba, where the calls of the purported kidnappers emanated from when about 100 armed men with AK47 and pump-action guns ambushed them.”
Ajayi said that the vandals collected their weapons and he was able to escape by jumping into a pit and hiding there. It was inside the pit that he sent the distress message.
But at that time, Ajayi wasn’t aware that another officer had also escaped while the vandals dragged the other seven personnel though the creeks into the forest.”
The matter was adjourned till November 6 for the continuation of the trial.
“On October 10, 2015, there was a Joint Security Operation; a combination of the DSS, the police, the Army and the Nigerian Navy. This operation was launched on creeks at Igbo-Olomu, Abule-Oba to Arepo in Ogun State.
“The purpose of the operation was to clear the area, which was almost abandoned, of militants and also for the service of arresting those behind the death of the personnel.
“The two defendants were later arrested and the command constituted an investigation team to investigate the matter and ascertain their level of involvement. And on October 28, the two defendants volunteered a statement under caution.
“The 1st defendant, in his statement, gave us his name as Clement Ododomu, a 25-year-old Ijaw man from Delta State. He said his profession is plumbing.
“In relation to the offense, he said he was among the vandals that chased and ambushed the DSS personnel. He said they collected their guns, beat them, used tear gas on their faces and pushed them into a speed boat.
“The first defendant said that they took the seven DSS officers to their hideout, in the creeks, called Barracks. He also identified the 2nd defendant, Monday, as a member that used the tear gas on the personnel. He also identified one Godwin Oweli and Prince Sunday as other perpetrators.”
Source: New Telegraph
2 Comments
I heard it was an accident?
This report shows some men admitted to killing them.