As images and videos of the incident trended on various social media platforms, many Nigerians have condemned the action, saying innocent residents would suffer.
The Nigerian military has denied carrying out a reprisal against Okuoma community in the Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State where 16 of its personnel were killed by hoodlums.
The army reportedly set Okuama community ablaze on Sunday.
As images and videos of the incident trended on various social media platforms, many Nigerians have condemned the action, saying innocent residents would suffer.
SaharaReporters had reported that a Commanding Officer, two Majors, one Captain and 12 soldiers of 181 Amphibious Battalion were killed by hoodlums in the Bomadi Local Government Area of the state.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, who made this known in a statement on Saturday, said the military personnel were killed on Thursday while on a peace mission to the community.
They were surrounded and killed by some youths of the community, the military said.
However, General Christopher Musa, the Defence chief, in a response sent to Reuters denied that the military had initiated an attack on the community.
He said, "No reprisals by the army. We are searching for the murderers and their weapon cache."
Meanwhile, human rights activist and #RevolutionNow convener, Omoyele Sowore, has lambasted President Bola Tinubu for giving the Nigerian Defence Headquarters and the Chief of Defence Staff full authority to go after the killers of military personnel.
SaharaReporters had reported that President Tinubu ordered the Nigerian Defence Headquarters and Chief of Defence Staff to do everything possible to bring the killers to justice.
President Tinubu in a statement he signed, said the incident demonstrates the dangers faced by Nigerian servicemen and women in the line of duty.
The President said that any attack on security personnel is a direct attack on the nation and the leadership of the country will not accept such a wicked act.
Reacting to President Tinubu’s order, Sowore said that the President’s order to the Defence Headquarters and the Chief of Defence Staff was essentially a carte blanche to kill innocent civilians in the area.
According to him, the Defence Headquarters has no business in bringing the killers of the soldiers in Okuama to justice. The former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) said it is the job of the police to investigate, arrest and prosecute the killers with the aid of the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice in Delta State.
Sowore, in a post on his X handle, said, “Tinubu @officialABAT is confused, and this is one of the main issues with the excessive use of military force; the Defence Headquarters has no business in bringing the killers of Nigerian soldiers in Okuama to ‘justice.’
“It is the job of the @PoliceNG to investigate, arrest, and prosecute with the aid of the attorney general and commissioner of justice in Delta state (or possibly the Attorney general of the federation and Minister of Justice).
“Tinubu’s endorsement is essentially a carte blanche to kill innocent civilians in that area of Nigeria just like Obasanjo did in Odi and Zaki Biam.
“Let the “Defence Headquarters” know that individual officers carrying out these unlawful orders are going to be held liable per ‘Nuremberg principles’.
“In case you don’t know, you can’t go and commit genocide in Delta state and state that “Tinubu sent me”, know this and know peace, even after you are retired, ask General Malu of the @HQNigerianArmy how it ended!”
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