A feud between an illegal oil bunker, Endurance Okodeh alias Amangbein and a sophisticated cartel of powerful illegal oil bunkers led to the killing of 17 soldiers in the Okuama community in Ughelli South LGA of Delta, investigations revealed.
Findings unmasked how the leader of the cartel, ex-militant leader Government Ekpemukpolo alias Tompolo who operates a private security company, in a bid for total control of the creeks of Niger Delta, earlier warned Amangbein, who is an ally of a sitting governor in one of the Niger-Delta States, to stay off illegal oil business, a development the latter saw as oppression.Amangbein, a known ex-militant, hails from the Igbomotoru community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) of Bayelsa state. He is also a leading voice against Tompolo and the ex-Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) boss, Patrick Akpobolokemi, in both the creek business and the Okuama/Okoloba land dispute.
Investigations revealed that the military authorities zeroed in on Amangbein in search of the leader of the militant group that killed 17 officers and soldiers of the 181 Battalion of the Nigerian Army that went to Okuama community to free one Anthony Aboh, said to be an ally of Akpobolokemi.The former NIMASA chief allegedly built a mansion in the disputed land between Okuama and Okoloba communities. The building of the house on the disputed land is said to be the genesis of the debacle that led to the killing of the soldiers.
Amangbein’s mother hailed from Okuama, an Urhobo community in Ughelli South LGA, in Delta state. He is now said to have fled to his paternal community in Bayelsa state, apparently informed of the military’s raid of the Igbomotoru community, which left several residents injured and properties destroyed.A general and the chief of defence staff, Christopher Musa, had earlier said that the 17 military personnel, including four officers and 13 soldiers, were murdered in relation to illegal bunkering business. But Okuama community insisted that the soldiers stormed the community, accusing them of being in possession of one Anthony Aboh, whose lifeless body has since been recovered floating in Forcado River near Ayakoroma community.
