Department of State Security, DSS, invade Mr. Sunday Igboho’s Soka, Ibadan home yesterday 1 July, capturing 13 and killing two.
An Agency spokesperson said the two casualties were among nine armed guards who engaged DSS agents in a gun battle.
Igboho, like Nnamdi Kanu captured last week, is an activist for an independent Oduduwa Republic for the Yoruba. He also fights off Fulani herders whose cows destroy farmlands in Oyo State.
DSS described the raid to his home as a joint security operation prompted by intelligence reports that Igboho “stockpiled arms.”
However, after searching the home, the agents found seven AK-47 assault rifles and three pump action guns.
DSS suspects five of the AK-47 assault rifles were seized from Nigerian Customs and Immigration officers at Idi Iroko border.
Effectively therefore, the agents were able to locate two additional AK-47 rifles and three pump action guns in the residence.
DSS said casualties occured because the joint team met a violent resistance from nine armed guards on arrival, prompting operatives to respond in kind.
“In the course of exchange, two … men were gunned down while the rest were subdued and arrested,” a spokesperson said.
One DSS operative was however shot on his right hand but has “received medical attention and is very stable.”
Interestingly, their prime target, Mr. Igboho, made a clean getaway during the raging battle and is now at large.
After missing their quarry, the agents arrested 13 other suspects from the home and bundled them to Abuja for interrogation.
The 13 captives – 12 men and a lady – were paraded before newsmen yesterday.
They will be charged to court “accordingly,” DSS spokesperson, Dr. Peter Afunanya said.
Afunanya advised Igboho to turn himself in because security is determined to hunt him down.
Federal agents also located and impounded Igboho’s international passport and a German residency permit during the search, Afunanya said.
DSS accused Igboho of arming a group to “undermine public order … in the guise of campaign for self-determination.”
As with Nnamdi Kanu, the Agency accused Igboho and his group of perfecting “a grand plan … to wage a violent insurrection against the Nigerian State.”
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