The defence chief who said that the army was following up with the suspected culprit, vowed that it was only a matter of time before he would be caught.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, has said that the Nigerian Army knows who killed the 17 soldiers in Okuama community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The defence chief who said that the army was following up with the suspected culprit, vowed that it was only a matter of time before he would be caught.
The CDS said that the Commanding officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel AH Ali, and the 14 other military personnel killed in the community had been targeted for trying to put an end to illegal oil bunkering in the area.
He said, “We know who did this, we are following up with him, and it’s just a matter of time, we are sure we are going to get him.”
Musa, while explaining the reason behind the attack, said, “I know him, the CO himself, Lieutenant Colonel Ali, of recent, because we were emphasising, we want the oil production of Nigeria to increase so that we will be able to have enough foreign exchange, and then things can really go down because we all know the challenges we are going.
“And so, he insisted that all illegal activities within the general area must stop. So, he directed all his troops and they were stopping all these illegal bunkering, stopping all these things, and then these are the people benefitting from it. And so, when this issue came, it came as an opportunity for them to also go and do away with him, and that’s exactly what happened.”
On what led to the tragedy, the CDS said, “Basically, it was a community clash that was happening and those are his own area of responsibilities, and that was why he responded when initially, his soldiers, some soldiers were apprehended by the communities.
“We know that because of these issues of bunkering, we have a lot of pirates, militants that are still operating in the area, and they have a lot of funding because of the area at which it’s been carried out. So, they always have a lot of arms with them.
“These are people they know and that’s why when he heard it, he felt that these are my community, these are the people I know, and he went to say, oh, this thing that you’re doing is not right, whatever it is within the community, we can do it, invite the stakeholders, let them come and handle it in a single mission and all these things, and the community said okay. And as they turned to go, they were rounded up, killed, not only killed, they were dismembered.
“And I don’t know what kind of, for a human being to go to that extent to go for people that came on a peaceful means, then that’s something that must be looked at.”