Mother of slain SSS operative dies waiting for son’s corpse

She was not among parents of slain operatives who assembled at the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital in Lafia earlier in May to donate specimens for DNA tests to identify three of the corpses at the hospital mortuary. The corpses of three of the 10 DSS operatives killed in Alakyo were handed back to their families for burial, while seven families have been waiting for the bodies of their sons believed to be in the mortuary. The bodies were mutilated and burnt beyond recognition.
The late Godiya championed the cause of parents agitating for the identification and recovery of the corpses. But she did not attend the DNA examination because she was bed-ridden, family members said.
 “She died last Wednesday after she suffered from a long ailment,” a family member said. Leader of the network of parents of the slain DSS operatives, Dr. Nandul Durfa, said the woman was a dependable member of the network in the agitation to recover bodies of the DSS personnel.  
She had pleaded with authorities to show more concern for the safety of security operatives, saying: “Our own relatives have gone, but other people still have relatives in the forces. We plead that the government should do more to protect them so that they can protect other Nigerians.” The late Godiya was buried at her village near Masaka in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Saturday.