It is reprehensible to take life in cold blood or without a lawful order of court because it is sacred. It is utterly irreverent to attack, let alone kill, a uniformed personnel because the authority of the state is vested in him or her.
Hence, the killing in one fell swoop penultimate Thursday of 17 military personnel at Okuoma in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State is infamy of the worst order. The military personnel, made up of four officers— the commanding officer of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, two majors and a captain— and 13 soldiers, all attached to the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army, were on a peace mission when they were ambushed and killed by persons suspected to be a militant gang in Okuoma community.
Reports said Okuoma and its neighbour, Okoloba in Bomadi council were embroiled in a land dispute. Okoloba youths were alleged to have earlier ambushed and killed three youths from Okuoma over the dispute, believed to have been raging since January, this year.
Okuoma youths, in an apparent vengeful move, also allegedly ambushed and abducted an important dignity from Okoloba, prompting Okoloba elders to seek the intervention of security agencies in a bid to free their person from Okuoma’s captivity.
The Army team, led by the late Lt. Col. Ali, were, therefore, despatched to Okuoma to broker peace and free the hostage. It was in the process that the suspected culprits, the Okuoma militant gang, who must have misread their mission, ambushed and gunned them down. Not only did they kill them, they mercilessly mutilated their bodies.
And on Saturday came the chilling piece of news that six policemen had been ambushed and killed again in Delta State, which is fast becoming notorious for wasting the lives of our uniformed people on active state assignments.
According to the statement released by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the six policemen met their untimely death while they were investigating the disappearance and organising the rescue of three of their colleagues at Ohoro Forest in Delta State. Six others, the FPRO said, are still missing as at press time!
This is highly vexatious. It beggars belief. What kind of bestial and iniquitous instincts could have influenced the mindless killing of agents of state who were on a peace expedition and were not the aggressors, neither were they part of the imbroglio? What kind of blood could be running through the veins of those who could ambush and rain a hail of bullets on policemen on state assignment without any provocation?
Fifteen of the bodies of the slain military officers and men were recovered from the river near Okuoma community by the joint Task Force soldiers under the supervision of the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major-Gen. Onyema Abdussalam. It was such a horrendous and gristly sight.
The initial information in the public domain was that 16 soldiers and one civilian were killed. But the Defence Headquarters eventually released the names and photographs of 17 victims, all military personnel. They included: the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion himself, who led the team to Okuoma, Lt. Col. A.H. Ali; Major S.D. Shafa; Major D.E. Obi; Captain U. Zakari; Staff Sergeant Yahaya Saidu; Corporal Yahaya Danbaba.
Others were: Corporal Kabiru Bashir; Corporal Bulus Haruna; Corporal Sole Opeyemi; Corporal Bello Anas; Lance Corporal Hamman Peter; Lance Corporal Ibrahim Abdullahi; Private Alhaji Isah; Private Clement Francis; Private Abubakar Ali; Private Ibrahim Adamu and Private Adamu Ibrahim.
The bodies of the slain policemen had also been recovered, while immediate measures put in place to fish out their killers yielded fruit with the arrest of five suspects. They are already singing to police detectives and hopefully, they would provide the clues that would aid the arrest of all the perpetrators.
The police authorities have also released the names and photographs of the slain policemen and those who are missing. Those killed were: Inspector Abe Olubunmi, Inspector Friday Iroree, Sergeant Kuden Elisha, Sergeant Akpan Anitte, Sergeant Atere Paul and Sergeant Ejemito Friday. Those missing in action are: Inspector Onoja Daniel, Inspector Onogho Felix, Inspector Emmanuel Ikoroafor, Inspector Joel Hamidu, Sergeant Moses Eduvie and Sergeant Cyril Okorie.
The barbaric and atrocious killings sent shock waves across the nation because the circumstances were not just provocative and ludicrous, they defied logic. The bizarre tragedy can only be reasonably surmised within the context of the inexplicable, inveterate hostility of some Nigerians to people in uniform generally. They tend to treat those who wear uniform with scorn and contempt as if they are foes.
Whereas, save a few bad eggs among some of our security agencies who tar them(security agencies) with a putrid brush of corruption, they are our utmost friends, recruited, trained and maintained with the tax payers’ money to make life comfortable for us. They make a lot of sacrifices and risk their lives in combat for the rest of us. When many of us are snoring on our beds, they are up on the roads and ungodly locations, most times defying the elements to keep our nation as one and in peace.
In another breath, whenever egregious and irascible elements among us, in utter misplacement of aggression, vent their spleen on people in uniform, they conveniently forget that they too are human; that they also are children, spouses, friends and relations to some people as well as breadwinners to a coterie of dependants like us, who will be hurt if they(uniformed people) come to any grievous hurt.
The national grief and outrage thrown up by the impetuous killings were indescribably deep and penetrating. Leading the pack of a medley of personalities and institutions who have been mourning these heroes who fell in execrable circumstances, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a statement he personally signed, declared: “As the Commander-in-Chief, I join all well-meaning Nigerians and the men and women of our armed forces to mourn and express my profound grief over the needless death of our gallant soldiers….
“The military high command is already responding to this incident. The cowardly offenders responsible for this heinous crime will not go unpunished …. Members of our armed forces are at the heart and core of our nationhood. Any attack on them is an attack on our nation. We will not accept this wicked act.”
The Senate also mourned the fallen heroes. In a statement released by its spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, the upper chamber of the National Assembly said: “The Senate leadership and all distinguished senators of the 10th Senate condemns this attack and convey their deepest condolences to the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Nigerian Army, officers and men of Operation Delta Safe as well as families of all the personnel who have lost their lives.
“We consequently support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s charge to the security authorities to smoke out the undesirable outlaws who put off the glowing lights of those promising officers and men.”
The military high command, through the Director of Defence Media Operations(DDMO), Major-Gen. Edward Buba, assured that “there would be measured responses and injurious consequences for the perpetrators of this dastardly act…”
Gen. Buba added: “Overall, there is no doubt that this is an extremely sad development and untoward activity by members of Okuoma community against troops that were there to protect them.”
The Delta State Governor, Šheriff Oborevwori, in whose state the troops were killed, also condemned the tragedy in very strong terms and condoled with the families of the victims.
In a statement signed on his behalf by his Chief Press Secretary, Festus Ahon, the governor vowed to use all means to fish out the perpetrators. “This incident,” the governor said, “is despicable and not in sync with the culture and tradition of Deltans. It runs contrary to the values and path of peace that the state government is promoting, as I have always emphasized in our agenda to enhance peace and security….
“The state government shall take all measures necessary to fish out all those behind this dastardly act and ensure they are made to face the full wrath of the law. Delta State is governed within the tenets of the rule of law and human decency. Acts such as this incident cannot and will not be tolerated,” Oborevwori declared.
The murder of those policemen too has expectedly stirred deep grief within and outside the Force. “Our hearts,” the FPRO said of the slain cops, “extend to the families, friends and colleagues of the fallen officers during this period of profound sorrow. We stand in solidarity with them, offering our deepest condolences and earnestly praying for the peaceful repose of the departed souls.”
Expectedly, the massive manhunt for the militant gang suspected to be behind the military personnel’s killings has heightened. The military authorities are leaving nothing to chance to hunt them down. That is how it should be.
And while the missing policemen are being searched for, no effort should be spared in apprehending all the killers of their slain colleagues. The culprits in both cases must be smoked out by all lawful means possible to make them pay for their atrocities.
No one should be allowed to debase the symbol of our strength and national pride, which our armed forces represent, or waste our police manpower any how without paying dearly for it.
Troops have already invaded Okuoma community where the military officers and men were killed and set camp there. The creeds in both Delta and Bayelsa states are also being thoroughly combed to track down the militant leader and his men as well as recover the deceased military men’s weapons carted away by the killers.
However, the ubiquitous presence of a medley of troops has tended to terrify the locals who are in hysteria about alleged reprisal attacks by soldiers. They are alleging killings and burning of houses both in Okuoma, Delta State, and Igbomoturu and adjoining communities in Bayelsa State, as the manhunt for the murderous gang behind the killings peaks.
But the military high command has vehemently denied those allegations. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taorad Lagbaja, who vowed that there would no hiding place for the killers, described the allegations of reprisals as “media propaganda and shenanigans.”
The Army chief said Okuoma community was already deserted by the time troops arrived the scene. “Regrettably,” he declared, “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.
“This again is a clear indication that the murder of the troops is a communally orchestrated attack against legitimate forces… It is only a ridiculous attempt at justifying their crime rather than turn in themselves to security agencies.”
It is reassuring that the military authorities have vowed never to resort to reprisals in their bid to track down the killers. The Director, Defence Media Operations(DDMO), Major-Gen. Edward Buba, debunked the reprisal claims, assuring: “The armed forces, being a disciplined force that complies with the rules of engagement, laws of conflict and the respect for human rights, would be tempered by these provisions. We would not be led by emotions but by the rule of law.”
The Army spokesman, Major-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, reiterated the same position. “While law-abiding citizens,” he said, “are assured that there will be no reprisals on the part of the troops, we enjoin all to go about their normal activities, even as ongoing efforts are scaled up to positively identify and isolate the criminals to account for their atrocious deeds.”
These are convincing assurances. We hope the military authorities will walk their talk to resist the temptation of engaging in reprisals. However, the Federal Government may have to intervene at this stage to prevent a slide into humanitarian crisis as the troops hunt for the killers.
The intervention may be necessary to resettle, in a temporary internally displaced camps, the petrified residents of Okuoma and Akugbene in Delta State, who are currently trapped in the forest owing to the military presence in their communities. They have been stranded in the bush for days now and are in the throes of starvation and deprivations.
Their haplessness is worsened by the refusal of neighboring communities to harbour them for fear of incensing the invading troops who are monitoring movements with the aid of drones.
The situation in Igbomoturu and adjoining communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State is also said to be pathetic as residents are reportedly trapped inside the communities, while those who are outside could not come in due to the restrictions allegedly imposed by the military, apparently to trap the fleeing militant gang believed to have been responsible for the troops’ murder.
The relevant authorities may need to come to their aid as fast as possible with relief materials, including food items and daily needs. In the alternative, let them prevail on the troops to relax the restrictions to allow a modicum of guided movements, so law-abiding residents could be allowed to go in and out in search of daily bread.
In the final analysis, like President Tinubu rightly said, the attack on our armed forces is an attack on the nation because they are national ambassadors of a sort and their uniform is an epitome of our strength, authority and pride as a nation.
Those slain troops are symbolic martyrs whose blood was shed to water the seed of peace; just as the slain cops fell as gallant heroes when active duty beckoned.
It is gratifying that the police hierarchy plans to posthumously honour those murdered policemen at the Nigerian Police Awards and Commendations slated for April 5, this year, in Abuja. The slain troops likewise should be immortalized in the best military tradition to keep the memories of those fallen heroes ever green.
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