VANGUARD
By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South, and Sunday Chancel
THE mind-blowing killing of 17 military officers, including the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Lt. Col. A.H Ali, and the Commander of Joint Task Force, JTF, Bomadi, Major M.D Shaffa, ensued at Okuama, a small Island on the bank of the Forcados River in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
But the suspected mastermind of the bloodbath, a militant leader, and his gang members, who are currently on the run, seem to have their operational stamping ground at Igbomotoru, a riverside community in the Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
However, the Nigerian Army, which has spread its dragnet for the fleeing suspects, went as far as Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, to pick up three persons, last Tuesday, in connection with the killing of the soldiers.
So far, the demanding search for the killers of the soldiers in the quiet Okuama has spread to the creeks, hideouts, and communities in Delta State, Bayelsa, and Rivers states, and is likely to extend to other states in the Niger-Delta, and outside the region if need be, according to sources.
Many believe the killing of the soldiers was beyond the land dispute between Okuama and Okoloba in the Bomadi local government area, as insiders point to divergences on oil bunkering.
Lt. Col Ali was reportedly bent on stopping oil thieves in his operational area and had made appreciable inroads. There was suspicion that his killing with other military personnel could be a setup.
We know who did it – General Musa, CDS
The Chief of the Defense Staff, CDS, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, who had given his troops marching orders to track down the killers, alluded to this notion.
Musa said: “I know him, the C.O himself, Lt. Col. Ali. Because of recent, we emphasized that we want oil production in Nigeria to increase so that we will be able to have enough foreign exchange for things to go down. Because we all know the challenges we are facing.
“And so, he insisted that all illegal activities within his general area must stop. He directed all the troops and they were stopping illegal bunkering, and then these are the people benefiting from it. And so when this issue came up, it became an opportunity for them to do away with him, which is exactly what happened.
“We know who did it, we are following up on him, and it is just a matter of time, we are sure we are going to get him. They took away our arms, we must get those arms back, and we must get these guys so that they would be prosecuted accordingly.”
From our findings, the countryside people of Okuama are not sophisticated enough to carry out this kind of attack on military officers.
And from the CDS declaration that “we know who did it..,” he confirmed that the premeditated killing was connected to oil bunkering, so why did the troops go after helpless Okuama women and children, and even razed the community?
However, the Army, on Friday, admitted knowledge of the viral video by a militant leader who confessed to participating in killing the 16 soldiers.
It noted: “The video among other things helps to narrow investigation to persons of interest and their cohorts.
“Accordingly, the state governments and host communities of these personalities are required to assist investigation in flushing out these culprits.
“There can be no hiding place for perpetrators of such dastardly act against the nation. This is a clarion call to duty by members of those communities and the state governments”.
Manhunt
One of the first moves of the Nigerian Army after the March 14 incident was to overrun Okuama on March 15.
Probably, it gathered intelligence from the few persons arrested about the activities of the militant leader and his gang with operational headquarters in Igbomotoru, Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, reportedly hibernating around the community.
Recall that both Okoloba and Okuama communities had accused each other of hiring mercenaries to attack, kidnap, and counter-kidnap indigenes of the two communities.
Soldiers also locked down surrounding communities of Okuama in Ewu Kingdom, Delta State, combing for perpetrators of the March 14 shooting.
As of today, the military has practically wiped out Okuama from the face of the earth. Every occupant has fled their homes, leaving the invading soldiers who have continued annihilation of the riverside settlement.
Sources claimed that soldiers killed up to 50 Okuama villagers, but the Nigerian Army did not confirm killing anybody.
Last Sunday, the military was already at Igbomotoru, Bayelsa State, looking for the militant leader from a broken home, whose father was a retired army captain. The troops backed by seven gunboats and a passport boat stormed the community in the morning.
They missed their target as he was not there, but the soldiers reportedly killed some of his boys, who allegedly resisted their attempt to search.
The angry soldiers, who laid siege to the waterways of the community since March 17, reportedly killed about 11 persons.
Acting on additional intelligence, the Army also trailed some of the suspects on the run to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, penultimate Tuesday, succeeded in seizing three suspects, and took them to the Army Headquarters in Asaba, capital of Delta State, where they are currently cooling their heels in detention.
The search has led to the recovery of the “decomposing hearts of some of the killed soldiers,” according to the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba.
‘Fleeing militant leader banished monarch’
At Igbomotoru, Sunday Vanguard found that the mastermind was the dreaded militant leader even by the traditional ruler and a retired military officer, HRH Ayibaikie Ofongo, who the gangsters allegedly ran out of the town.
The banished monarch, according to local sources, has been operating from exile for three years running.
One group in the internal leadership crisis rocking the community allegedly invited the militant leader, who pursued the monarch and his followers out of the community, and since then, the state government and security agencies in the state have been unable to restore order.
Ofongo got into trouble with the militant leader because he kicked against his oil bunkering and other criminal activities in the area.
A villager said the militant leader, who dissolved the ruling class in Igbomotoru, is known for oil theft and sabotaging oil facilities, which corroborates the claim of the CDS.
With the command to fish out the killers of the 17 military men, who also went away with their arms and ammunition, and that the search would not end except the killers were fished out, and the weapons recovered, the troops are in a no-joy temperament.
Urhobo groups raise posers
With the up-to-date revelations on the reasons for the attack, some Urhobo ethnic nationality groups, seeking fairness and compensation for the marooned Okuama natives, are congregating to file a petition against the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army and may escalate it to the international community
The Urhobo Media Practitioners Advocacy Group, UMPAG, an assembly of Urhobo media practitioners worldwide, which alleged a grand conspiracy to twist facts of the bizarre incident, last week, queried: “What was the true mission of the soldiers to Okuama and Okoloba communities?
Secretary of the group, Mr. Onojeghen Theophilus Okpare, and an executive member, Mr. Shedrack Onitsha, in a statement, further asked: “Was the Ovie (King) of Ewu Kingdom and her subjects informed of the military visit on a peace mission? Was the Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, informed of the peace mission?
”Why did the situation report come from the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Bomadi, and not DPO, Otu-Jeremi? Why would the military stationed in Bomadi, embark on a ‘peace’ mission to Okuama in Ughelli South, without the involvement of DPO, Otu-Jeremi, and local government officials?
“Why was the military ‘peace’ mission escorted by Ijaw youths? How come the civilian members of the ‘peace’ mission survived to tell the story, yet no military man survived? If the King, president general, PG, DPO, Otu-Jeremi, and local government officials were not involved, who were those to sign the peace accord?
”Where did the community source such sophisticated weapons to wage such war against the military men? Why were the police, Department of State Service, DSS, and other sister security agencies not involved in the military peace mission to Okuama?
”Why was the military peace mission only for the Okuama community? From the reports, the bodies of the slain military personnel were recovered from the Forcados River. Who dumped the bodies in the River? Are we not sure that warlords from neighbouring areas were responsible for the attack on soldiers?
”Was Okuama and Okoloba at war for 16 soldiers to be gruesomely killed in less than 24 hours? Who were the civilians that took the military to Okuama? Who were the civilians who accompanied the soldiers to Okuama? How come they survived while the soldiers were killed?
”From the foregoing, we call on the Executive Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and the Nigerian military to thoroughly investigate the attack on the soldiers and the people of the Okuama community”.
