The Defence Headquarters has said that troops of Special Task Force (STF) of Operation Safe Haven acted professionally within the laws to stop looting at the resident of Former Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, in Jos Plateau state, and described allegations of killing of four persons by the troops by the media as “malicious and mischievous.”
In the aftermath of the #ENDSARS hoodlums invaded the house of the former speaker in Jos on Sunday 25 October 2020, with the intention of looting his belongings. The military said the prompt deployment of its troops evaded the situation.
But a newspaper, not Blueprint alleged on Friday, 30 October 2020, that soldiers attached to the STF, in their attempt to stop the hoodlums, killed four members of Gwafan community in Jos North local of Plateau state, and dumped their bodies in surrounding Dams, an allegation Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, has denied.
Enenche who is saddled with responsibility of speaking with journalists on all operations engaged in by the Nigeria military said the troops were “guided by extant Rules of Engagement and Standing Operating Procedures for such situations,” and were “highly professional” during their duty. “The troops arrived at the residence and apprehended a total number of 30 looters. He said a total of 114 hoodlums comprising 21 females and 93 males were apprehended for looting and were later paraded for the media, which he said was widely reported.
“One therefore wonders where there was shooting for a situation that was managed professionally to bring the situation under control,” he asked
