Barely 24 hours after burial of the 17 military personnel that were killed in Okuama community while on a peace mission to the troubled communities in Delta State, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Thursday declared eight suspects including a woman wanted in connection with the killings.
Director of Defence Media Operations, (DDMO), Major General Edward Buba who release the details of the suspects at the bi-weekly briefing of Defence Correspondents on the ongoing operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) and other security agencies against insurgency activities in the six geo-political zones of the country vowed the military would deploy everything possible to fish out the killers and made them to face justice according to the law of the land.
Buba, however, declared that the military would never allowed to the repeat of what happened to its troops in Delta State.
According to him, “troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria AFN and other security agencies are being deployed to all the nooks and crannies of the country for a reason which is to protect lives of y citizens and public properties and where the situation is getting out of hand as it happened in the Delta Community,we try snd curtail the situation for peace to reign, but rather than to appreciate the troops, they were ambushed and killed like animals, we will not allow the repeat of that again anywhere in the country.”
Those declared wanted are Prof. Ekpekpo Arthur; Mrs Igoli Ebi; Reuben Baru; Akata Malawa David, Sinclear Oliki, Andaowei Dennis Bakriri, Akevwru Daniel Omotegbono (a.k.a. Amagbem) and Clement Ikolo Okhenerukevwe.
The personnel that were killed on March 14, when Lt. Colonel A. H. Ali, the Commanding Officer of 181 amphibious battalion, led three other officers and 13 soldiers to the Okuama Community to mediate in the lingering dispute with Okoloba community.
This came just as General Buba confirmed that the Military was set to release 313 suspected terrorists to the Borno State Government as directed by Court having ordered their release for lack of evidence to back up their prosecutons.
While stating that the practice was a routine exercise, he said that the military would in the future collate enough evidence against suspects to secure their conviction.
Speaking on the operations of the Troops, the DDMO stated that the armed force ” is bent on sustaining the winning ways of our operational engagements as demonstrated with the recent rescue of 16 and 137 hostages in Sokoto and Kaduna States, respectively.
“The rescue of these hostages is indicative of a better understanding of the dynamics of what we are dealing with ,and to address the issue in a much safer manner.
“The rescue operations was based on collaboration between the military working with local authorities and government agencies across the country, in a coordinated approach. The success demonstrates the unwavering commitment of the armed forces to secure and protect the citizens against harm and acts of terror.
“The pressure of military operations created a significant level of distress both for the terrorist and the children. Given the situation, troops line of interest was the children. The level of distressed created by the children was sufficient enough for troops to exploit in their rescue.
“Additionally, cursory operations in the general areas by troops culminated in the neutralization of several terrorist leaders and commanders in OP HADARIN DAJI theatre of operation.
“On the flip side, we must never allow the incident that occurred in Delta State that led to the killing of 17 soldiers that were buried on 27 March 2024 to ever happen again. The armed forces is a force for stability that employs both kinetic and non knowledge netic measures to achieve the desired end state.
“Prior to the ugly incident, the military had constructed several civic projects in Delta State as a sign of good will. For instance, the construction of Multipurpose Hall and Borehole Projects in Patani LGA and Medical Outreach at Aladja Community in Udu LGA all in Delta State, among several others. Needless to mention, the elders and community leaders have an obligation to expose these wanted persons.
“The troops would continue with their efforts until the culprits are found ,arrested, tried, and brought to justice by Nigerian law. The banner of eight wanted persons involved with the killing including a woman is hereby released.
“Accordingly, it is necessary to state that citizens are our first line of intelligence and must rise to the occasion in honour of their nation.
“During the week under review. Troops neutralised 212 and arrested 252 persons. Troops also arrested 29 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 244 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied the oil theft of the estimated sum of one billion fifty million seven and fifteen thousand two hundred and sixty naira (N1,050,715,260.00) only.
“Furthermore, troops recovered 223 assorted weapons and 2,756 assorted ammunition. The breakdown as follows: 3 M56 rifles, 115 AK47 rifles, 3 PKT gun, 24 locally fabricated gun, 36 dane guns, 7 locally fabricated pistols, one fabricated revolver pistol, 3 locally made single barrel guns, 2 hand grenades and one locally made explosive
“Others are: 1,716 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 494 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 60 rounds of 7.62 x 25mm ammo, 290 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo, 81 rounds of 9mm ammo, 2 live cartridges, 16 magazines, 3 M56 rifles magazines, one HH radio, 5 vehicles, 14 motorcycles, 15 mobile phones and the sum of N857,960.00 amongst other items.”
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He added that the troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed 102 dugout pits, 41 boats, 36 storage tanks and 8 vehicles. Other items recovered incl 39 cooking ovens, 6 pumping machines and 61 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 944,700 litres of stolen crude oil, 171,060 litres of illegally refined AGO and 1,500 litres of DPK.
The DDMO stated that foregoing indicated that troops were weathering the storm through offensive posture and improved understanding of modus operandi of the adversary saying that the Troops were doing their best to rescue other hostages in terrorist captivity.
He assured that the troops would also continue to elimination threats posed by these terrorist and their cohorhorts and urged that the citizens should remember that they were military first line of intelligence and should support the troops in the fight against insurgency activities in the country.
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