Senate president Godswill Akpabio said Tuesday in Abuja that it was impossible for any community in the Niger Delta to carry out a cold blooded murder of Nigerian military officers as it was being alleged after the killing of 16 officers in Okuama community in Ughelli South Local government area of Delta State.
This is just as Delta State governor Sheriff Oborevwori briefed President Bola Tinubu on the development on the ground.
Sixteen soldiers including a Major and a Captain were dispatched by unknown persons last Thursday and in reprisal attacks soldiers were said to have burned down every house in the riverside community. Members of the community have denied having a hand in the killing of the soldiers, rather they claimed that the soldiers had shot and killed about 50 persons in the community in an unprovoked attack.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate during a hearing on the matter, Senator Akpabio backed the submission of the community members saying those who murdered the soldiers are not from the community: “I don’t think they are from the Niger Delta, they may be mercenaries.”
The Senate committee on defence has been mandated to probe the killing of the soldiers from the 181 Amphibious Battalion based in Bomadi.
Governor Sheriff told reports that calm has returned to the area, but members of the community were still in hiding fearing for their lives. He added that his deliberations with President Tinubu remains a matter of national security.
