The Department of State Services (DSS) has faulted the report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which indicted the security agency in the killing of eight squatters at the Legislative Quarters in Apo district, Abuja, last year.
It has given the commission a one month pre-action notice after which it intends to head for court and challenge the report.
The DSS’s pre-action notice is contained in the letter to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, written pursuant to section 18(3) of the NHRC (Amendment) Act.
In the letter written by its lawyer, Solo Akuma (SAN), the DSS said it was dissatisfied with the commission’s recommendations and award and had therefore decided to seek a judicial review of the report.
The DSS said it intended to ask the court to quash the recommendations and the award.
It argued that NHRC was biased, lacked the jurisdiction to determine the subject matter, failed to observe rules of fair hearing and committed errors of law on the face of the record.
The DSS said it intend to head for the Federal High Court, where it hopes to pray for among others, an order of certiorari to bring the commission’s report to the court for the purpose of its being quashed.
Eight squatters were killed on September 20, 2013 while 11 others were injured when security operatives stormed an uncompleted building at Apo.
The DSS had claimed after the incident that those killed were members of the Boko Haram sect, a claim some groups contested and petitioned the NHRC for investigation.
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