DSS’ bloody raid on Igboho Soka’s residence caused us fear, sleepless nights –Neighbours

Many people living outside Ibadan, Oyo State, will remember the Soka community as where the camp of some evil-minded individuals who killed victims for ritual purposes was uncovered on March 22, 2014. The criminality reportedly endured for sometime before their evil act was blown open. But those residing in the area appeared to have put the incident behind them and children born during the period may also not be aware of the inhumanity of the criminals who turned an area in the place to a slaughterhouse. A beautiful school has since replaced the ritualists’ den to blot whatever bad memories the place gave residents and visitors.

Soka area is home to many responsible persons and it recently evoked memories of horror when men of the Department of State Services and other security forces stormed the residence of a prominent Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemi aka Sunday Igboho.

The serenity of the night of July 1 was violated with the invasion which the DSS said left two of Igboho’s aides dead and 13 arrested, adding that its men recovered arms and ammunition in the residence. The secession agitator has had a brush with some security agents in the recent past.

Igboho’s supporters on many occasions alleged that several ways were being planned to arrest him following his eviction of killer herders in Ibarapaland. He also went to Igangan to issue a notice to quit to the then Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Abdulkadir Salihu. Seriki was accused by Igangan residents of masterminding kidnappings, killings, destruction of farms and rape in Ibarapaland but he denied the allegations.

The residents of Soka, like other areas, looked forward to a peaceful state after a surge of insecurity in the state and other states. But July 1 ignited fresh fears in the residents when the security agents besieged Igboho’s residence at 1:30am. Some of them who spoke to Saturday PUNCH were still in shock and having sleepless nights days after the invasion.

A teacher living two streets away from Igboho’s house, who identified himself only as Philips, told our correspondent that he was observing an online church vigil to usher in the new month when he heard gunshots.

He said, “I was watching a church online vigil on Facebook and preparing to go to bed when I heard gunshots. I first thought it might be armed robbers but the sound of the guns was persistent and loud. I thus became afraid.  I crawled to the room where my children were sleeping and carried them from the bed to the floor. I envisaged that if they were on the floor and bullets entered the room, they might escape. My wife and I also lay on the floor and my children woke up. I told them not to talk and lie down. The shooting was intense and I wondered why it was so without the intervention of security agents. I heard some people shouting and I felt the shootings were coming from the direction of Igboho’s house.

“We were in a state of panic until around 4am or 5am but it seemed like years. I prayed for hours that night. I did not go out until it was bright in the morning. We heard that some people were killed and I saw expended bullets in front of his house and many people gathered there. It was not the kind of incident one should experience twice, we now have sleepless nights and we are afraid.”

One of the landlords in the area who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent that his fellow landlord living close to Igboho’s house told him that the security agents jumped into his compound to ask for Igboho and his aides who they claimed ran to hide there.

He said, “My house is not close to Igboho’s house. But I have a friend whose house is close to it. I visited him a day after the incident and he told me that some officers of the DSS scaled the fence of his building that night on the claim that some people went into this compound to hide. He said he didn’t open the front door and that since they jumped into his compound, they could break the door open and search for whoever they were looking for.

“When I heard persistent gunshots, I knew what was happening had something to do with Igboho but I thought some killer herders were at work. The shooting was too much. I was really afraid and my wife went to urinate twice. It became clear that they were not shooting at our house, so I sat on the floor but anytime lie shooting seemed to be coming towards the direction of my house, I would lie on the floor. But I don’t pray to witness such a situation again.”

A resident who owns a shop around the area, Dauda Kareem, said though his house is not close to Igboho’s, the gunshots he heard on the night of the raid were indescribable.

He said, “They were just shooting and I thought those who came to kill Igboho might have decided to kill everybody in his neighbourhood so that there would not be any witnesses.  I was asleep and rudely woken up by the sound. My phone was switched off to conserve the battery but by the time I switched it on, it was around 2am. I am sure if those who came to arrest him can that demonstrate like that to the herders killing people in the forest, they would all flee the area. Everybody knew they meant business. We thought they had either killed Igboho or captured him during the raid. Our minds would have been at rest if the raid was carried out in daylight. We would have known they are security agents but the night raid was disturbing and frightening, we now live in fear.’’

Also a motorcycle rider popularly called okada rider living around the area, Taju Adeoye, said the security agents who invaded Igboho’s house were many, saying a spy could have been sent to be sure he was at home before the raid.

Adeoye, who was initially unwilling to speak more on the matter, said he was awoken by the sound of a motorcycle which passed through the area.

He said, “I thought one of Igboho’s boys boarded the okada. I didn’t know that something strange would follow.  About three minutes after the motorcycle had left the area, I heard the sound of vehicles being driven recklessly and I believe they were many. Almost immediately, I started hearing gunshots. They did not knock at the gate. They opened fire on the house and that was how the whole thing started.

“It was a frightening experience. I thought I was bold but that experience made me know that I was not as brave as I thought. I need to upgrade my fortification. I went to the place around 7am and I saw expended bullets everywhere in the house. They were many. Some Igboho’s aides who escaped the raid narrated their experiences. It was later that we learnt that Adogan (Saheed Adisa) was not shot dead. They claimed that the security agents shot him many times but the bullets could not penetrate, so they used a pestle on his head. I was not there when they killed him but I saw a pestle outside the gate of the house the next morning.”

The DSS raid turned the house to a tourist site the following morning and scores of residents of Ibadan thronged the place. Some visited to see what was left of the house, while others went to sympathise with the man they believe is their defender against marauding herders.

An aide who said he was around during the raid was surprised at what he described as the level of damage left behind by the security agents.

He said, “The bullet shells are evidence. The bullets pierced everywhere in the building. A lady who led them into the premises asked for popular occupants in each of the rooms. The lady was the one who told them to kill cats in the house. Perhaps, they believed he transformed.

“They killed at least two persons, Adigan and Alfa. Alfa was Igboho’s uncle who came from Sagamu and was praying when the   raiders stormed the house and killed him. Many things were missing in the house and they also took away the CCTV box. They probably knew they were not professional in carrying out the raid and took away the device which recorded their act.’’

Igboho while speaking in a statement about the invasion of his house for the first time said he was at home when the DSS men and soldiers invaded his house. He said he never killed anybody and that he was forced to come out to speak for his people because of the failure of the government saddled with the responsibility of protecting the people.

Igboho said, “The presidency’s serial antics and desperation to acquire people’s ancestral lands across Nigeria for foreign Fulani herdsmen because they share ethnicity and occupation with the President is well known to Nigerians and the international community. I am being seen as a threat to the Fulanisation agenda in the South-West, hence the desperation to soil my name.

“Buhari’s regime would have declared that ‘unknown gunmen’ invaded my home if they had succeeded in killing me. Nigerians and the international community should beware that desperate efforts are being made to force those arrested to make an implicating confession statement. I advise the DSS to desist from their unprofessional acts and devote such energy to eradicating insecurity.

“Nigerians and the international community should please note that I am a law-abiding citizen without blemish. I advise President Buhari to, in the interest of Nigerians that voted him to power, order his henchmen to desist from using falsehood and unholy tactics to soil my name. Such energy should be devoted to taming the herdsmen and bandits freely committing heinous crimes across Nigeria with impunity because their kinsman is in power.

Also, in  a letter to the Federal Government titled, “Illegal gang grossly unconstitutional invasion of Sunday Igboho Residence,’’ signed by Igboho’s lawyer, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN) of Chief Yomi Alliyu & CO, on Saturday, he demanded N500m as reparation for damage done by the DSS’ officers to his client’s exotic cars which included Mercedes Benz G-Class and a 2019 Lexus car.

The solicitor added that during the house invasion, the DSS carted away €1,000, N2m, expensive jewellery worth millions, travel documents, amulets, Igboho’s iPhone 12 and phones of about 15 others living in the house including those killed by the officers and other yet-to-be-identified belongings.

He added, “We hereby demand that the Federal Government orders an investigation into the actions of the various security operatives led by DSS that raided Chief Sunday Adeyemo’s house with a view to sanctioning them and release all the innocent people arrested and compensate the families of those murdered. Our client should also be paid N500m as reparation for damage to his exotic cars that include Mercedes Benz G-Class and 2019 Lexus Car. We also demand a public apology.’’

The lawyer on Thursday filed an action before a Federal High Court in Abuja for the release of the 13 arrested Igboho’s aides.

PUNCH