The uncompleted building in the Apo District of Abuja, in which eight squatters were killed during an operation carried out by the State Security Service, was the venue of a series of meetings where the Boko Haram sect plotted attacks against the Federal Government.
A suspected Boko Haram member, Mohammed Adamu, alias engineer, disclosed this on Tuesday while testifying at the continuation of a public hearing being held by the National Human Rights Commission on the incident.
Adamu, a commercial Keke NAPEP rider, 16, was arrested by the SSS on September 18, 2013, and it was his confession that a Boko Haram leader named Suleiman, alias R-Kelly, was residing in the uncompleted building, that led to the ill-fated operation.
Following the inability of the security agents to locate the spot where Suleiman allegedly buried arms in the Apo cemetery, Adamu had led the troops to the uncompleted building, where they intended to arrest the Boko Haram leader (Suleiman).
The security agents are insisting that Boko Haram members in the building opened fire on them before they responded, leading to the death of eight squatters and injuries to several others.
As part of the public hearing, the panel of the NHRC, led by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, visited the uncompleted building on Tuesday, where Adamu gave his testimony.
Speaking with the aid of an interpreter, who translated his statements from Hausa to English, Adamu explained that Suleiman recruited him to convey members of the Boko Haram sect to and from the meetings at the uncompleted building, for a fee of N5,000 per meeting.
Adamu, an indigene of Kaduna State, said he met Suleiman in the course of his work as a commercial Keke NAPEP rider at the Garki Monday Market in Abuja.
He said, “It was in the process of riding Keke NAPEP that I met Suleiman R-Kelly. He told me to be conveying people to this place (uncompleted building) for meeting and he will be paying me.
“I picked them from Garki Monday Market to this uncompleted building. I picked them around 8pm and the meeting will end around 11pm. I usually go in with them for the meeting.
“The meeting was to defend our religion – we said we want to defend our religion through war using guns.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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