Why We Can’t Allow You Return Home Now, Military Tells Okuama Residents

There is a word from the Nigerian military to Okuama residents, the Delta community which has experience some measure of firepower and killings recently.
It is: we can’t allow you return to your homes now, and this is with reason.

The Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Christopher Musa speaking on Arise TV, said the reason was because troops were currently conducting a cordon and search operation in the community.

Said the CDS: “We are currently conducting a cordon and search in the community. Cordon and search operation means we are searching every nook and cranny within the community because they have a lot of illegal funds from crude oil theft.

“They have bought a lot of weapons. It is for us to thoroughly clean the community to ensure that no weapon, no explosive is left in the community. I can tell you that at the end of the operation, residents of the community will always go back,” he said.

Okoloba, an Ijaw community in Bomadi Local Government Area Delta State, shares a boundary with Okuama, an Urhobo community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of state.

READ ALSO: Okuama: What Really Led To The Killings of 17 Soldiers [Eyewitness account]

It would be recalled that irate youths who are suspected Okuama residents working with some other suspects on March 14, ambushed and murdered the Commanding Officer of 181 Army Amphibious Battalion, two majors, one captain and 13 soldiers
According to the army, the troops were attacked while responding to a distress call, arising from a clash between Okuama and Okoloba communities, both in Delta State.

17 soldiers lost their lives in the March 14, attack and there is an allegation that Okuama residents hired the mercenaries who carried out the attack killing the military men.

Eight suspects have since been declared wanted in connection with the brutal murder of the military personnel by Defence headquarters.

Chairman of the Okoloba community, Clement Koki, who reacted to the account of an Okuama leader detailing how soldiers and villagers died in the community, and how an Okoloba leader escorted the Army to the community on March 14, exclusively published by Vanguard on April 2, maintained that the narration was “full of fabricated lies and complicity”

READ ALSO: Delta: ‘Army Wanted To Forcefully Arrest 3 High Chiefs, They Didn’t Come For Peacekeeping

’On his part, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen T. A. Lagbaja, at the Nigerian Army’s Civil-Military Cooperation Media Chat for the first quarter of 2024, in Asaba, capital of Delta State, yesterday, urged the media to refrain from inadvertently amplifying the activities of undesirable elements.