Okuoma: Villagers Lament, Allege Soldiers Have Killed 50

Residents of the Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, have narrated how soldiers opened fire on them and killed about 50 members of their community.

This came up four days after 16 military personnel, including a lieutenant colonel, lost their lives in an ambush.

The residents spoke from hiding, as they fled into the bush after the March 14 ambush of soldiers.

However, military authorities described their claim as propaganda.

Army Headquarters said: “Regrettably, the community complicit in this dastardly act has resorted to media propaganda and shenanigans, rather than engage in a positive effort to fish out the perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

According to the terrified indigenes, who preferred anonymity, there were many dead bodies in the bush where they were taking cover.

They echoed that the military personnel arrived in two gunboats purportedly for a peace talk with the community chairman, and leaders on Thursday, March 14, and the community warmly received and offered them kola nut, leading to a peaceful dialogue.

However, tension escalated when the military insisted on whisking away the community chairman and some leaders for further questioning after the peace talks, which the people refused.

The refusal allegedly angered the military men, who opened fire right at the town hall, where they held a meeting with the people, resulting in casualties within the community.

They did not explain the role of the community in the dastard killing of the 16 military officers and personnel later the same day but revealed that on March 15, the military returned for a second attack, wherein they set ablaze houses in the community, forcing residents to flee.

One resident said, “On March 14, military personnel visited Okuama and the people welcomed them. They first said they wanted to walk around the community; they walked around and said they wanted to go to the town hall for a peace talk. The people entertained them as it is customary with such visit.

“They asked for the community chairman and community leaders. They sat with them and they held peace talks together. After that, they asked the community chairman, and some other leaders to follow them.

“The people said they have already held peace talks with them, but they said they must take the leaders away.

“The community refused, and from there, the army turned the whole story to violence, right there in the community town hall, the army started shooting our people there.

“People started running, some were killed instantly, and people ran away because nobody expected shooting by the army that very day.

“Then, the army left, but within a while, they came back with more reinforcement, gunboats, and other things.

“And instantly, about 20 persons were killed, and when they came back again, they began to shoot, they killed nothing less than 50 persons on that day.

“Then, the following day, they mobilized again, some from Bomadi, Okwagbe, they came together and burned the whole community down, that was on March 15.”

A runaway mother said, “Some of us have yet to see our children since March 14. We have been hiding in the bush, some dead bodies are there, therefore, we want the government to come and rescue us.”

On the killing of soldiers, she denied that the community initiated the attack on the army, saying, “The army came to meet us and we entertained them, it was after the peace talk they said they want to take our leaders away. We did not attack the army in the River; it was their insistence to take away the community chairman, secretary, and other leaders that led to the shooting.”

“They killed the youth, women, and children in the town hall but there was confusion everywhere, therefore, people ran helter-skelter.

“We are calling for a full-scale investigation into this incident by the government to find out those killed our people and the soldiers also,” she said.

Meanwhile, as the Okoloba community points fingers at Okuama leaders, who they alleged hired a militant leader that purportedly spearheaded the ambush and killing of 16 soldiers, the Okuama community also claims that an Ijaw top shot instigated the shooting and killing of 50 indigenes on March 14 by soldiers.

The Okuama people called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to call the military to order as their operations in the area should be neutral, not under any guise.

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