How SSS Official Version Of Boko Haram Prison Break Sparked Even More Controversy

 

The State Security Service (SSS) on March 31, 2014, Monday, faced even more questions on how 21 detainees were killed during an attempted jailbreak from their headquarters.

According to report by AFP news agency, some sort of cover-up on what had exactly happened exists.
The story developed rapidly on March 30, 2014. Suspected Boko Haram insurgents were shot dead during an attempted prison break after one inmate overpowered a guard and seized his weapon.

The spokesperson of the SSS, Marilyn Ogar, maintained this position in a radio interview on Monday:

“All of the 21 were killed by... operatives of the DSS.

“The investigation is still ongoing. We will determine who shot who and at what point and how many were shot by whom and for what reason,” she told the Raypower 100.5 FM radio station.

Ogar said the inmate seized the gun which had over 90 rounds of live ammunition. Suspected terrorist had fired it sporadically.

She explained that the long-lasting gunfire, which has been overheard for hours in and around the SSS headquarters, were just the warning shots, in case the reinforcement were heading to help rioting detainees from outside.

The spokesperson refused to give further comments Daily Trust on how the exact circumstances of inmates’ deaths.

Despite the call by the Presidency to take the incident easy, several media sources kept questioning the official version of Sunday’s events.

For example, a report by Premium Times questioned why so much heavy weaponry was required to subdue ONE inmate.

An article by AFP mentioned that any security breach at SSS headquarters would be an embarrassment for the government but even more so if it involved Boko Haram, which has been waging a violent insurgency in the North since 2009.

It would be added that the Nigerian Army is under pressure about the effectiveness of its strategy to tackle the insurgents. Over 1,500 people have died in the troubled north-eastern states since the beginning of the year 2014.

Amnesty International on Sunday claimed that some 600 Boko Haram suspects may have been killed after a jailbreak at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State, on March 14. The human rights monitor referred to reports by witnesses, who informed them that hundreds of escapees were executed, while dozens were able to escape.