According to military sources speaking with SaharaReporters, the soldier responsible for murdering Benson Ogedegbe in Oghara, Delta State, has been arrested. SaharaReporters has also learned that the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Aminu Umar, is also the subject of an investigation by the Army.
According to military sources speaking with SaharaReporters, the soldier responsible for murdering Benson Ogedegbe in Oghara, Delta State, has been arrested.
The soldier, Lance Corporal Obinna, is attached to the 19th Battalion at the Koko Military base near Oghara. The 19th Battalion is part of the 4th Mechanical Brigade located in Benin City, Edo State.
SaharaReporters has also learned that the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Aminu Umar, is also the subject of an investigation by the Army.
SaharaReporters was the first to break the news that Lance Corporal Obinna executed Benson Ogedegbe in broad daylight in front of numerous witnesses on June 23. Mr. Ogedegbe was the Chairman of the Oghara Vigilante Group and a police informant. According to a military source speaking with SaharaReporters, they believe that Mr. Ogedegbe was working with the criminals alongside the Oghara area police.
This same military source said that Lt. Colonel Umar remains in command of the 19th Battalion while subject to an Army Board of Inquiry.
Police sources in the area, speaking to SaharaReporters on the condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Ogedegbe provided them with information that criminal gangs in the area were operating under the protection of soldiers at the Koko Military base, all by direction of Lt. Colonel Umar.
Witnesses in the area have told SaharaReporters that soldiers of the 19th Battalion had been harassing Mr. Odedegbe for weeks, eventually murdering him brutally.
SaharaReporters has also heard reports that the Koko Military base hosts a “concentration camp” and that soldiers of the 19th Battalion would routinely torture inmates kept there. Former inmates of the concentration camp said were housed in a long metal container and would be beaten and abused daily.
Our investigation has also revealed that the criminal working with the military is named Onoride “Onos” Okerhibo. Mr. Okerhibo has been responsible for oil theft, kidnapping for ransom, murder for hire, and auto theft. SaharaReporters has also learned that he is wanted for similar crimes in Edo State.
Police sources have told SaharaReporters that Mr. Okerhibo has been acting with impunity in the Oghara area because of his financial ties with Lt. Colonel Umar and the other soldiers of the 19th Battalion.