President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be attending the burial ceremony of 18 army personnel killed in Okuama Community, Delta state.
Army spokesperson, Maj.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu announced this in a statement on Tuesday, March 26.
The burial ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, March 27.
He said President Bola Tinubu would be the Special Guest of Honour at the event.
A cross section of Nigerians have condemned the recent killing of soldiers in Delta, saying any attack on security personnel is a direct threat to public order and rule of law, and an offence that is worse than treason.
They said such attacks are unacceptable and must be condemned by all well-meaning citizens.
They added in separate interviews that example must be set of those who killed the military personnel at Okuama in Delta, so as to dissuade a repeat of the dastardly act.
The respondents, however, said the situation highlighted the need to redesign the internal security architecture of the country to provide adequate protection to citizens.
Some of the respondents said government should be more responsive and ensure social justice to significantly curtail crisis in communities that will require the intervention of the military and police.
Dr Sani Abubakar, an expert in Military Studies, described the attack on the military personnel as a threat to the existence of the Nigerian state.
According to him, the gruesome murder of the 16 officers and soldiers is a crime of monumental proportion, worse than treason.
“No serious government in the world will keep quiet and allow non state actors to not only use violence against civilians but also against its armed forces to the extent of killing colonels and majors to go scot free,” he added.
He recalled that a similar incident occurred in 1999 in Odi, Bayelsa during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Abubakar said though Nigeria has been a fragile country divided along ethno-religious lines affecting virtually every fibre of the society, the military remained the only institution that has kept the country united.
“They have their own challenges, but just go to any military barrack and you will see unity and patriotism in display.
“We should not allow this unique institution that is strategic to the collective survival of Nigeria to be desecrated.
“The perpetrators of this heinous act must be fished out and punished,” he added.
Also, Dr Martins Idachaba, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Law, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba in Kogi, said the killing was barbaric, cruel and totally unacceptable.
“It should not be tolerated by Nigerians and any sane society,” he added.
Idachaba said that for a nation already combating high level of insecurity, the killing of its security personnel, who put their lives on the line for the nation, would be too much a burden to bear.
“These security operatives are making a lot of sacrifices in their line of duty, and in some cases pay the supreme price.
“As citizens and stakeholders in the Nigerian project, we must all be deliberate in appreciating and valuing them and the humongous sacrifices they make in protecting Nigerians.
“I must outrightly say without mincing words and fear of contradiction that the killing no doubt is barbaric, cruel and totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated by Nigerians and any sane society”.
Idachaba agreed to the need to conduct an impartial investigation involving international human rights organisations, and bring those responsible to justice.
The lecturer urged the Nigerian military to restrain its officers and ensure that the rights of innocent civilians were not violated, stressing that all citizens are entitled to the right to life.
“I encourage them not to be dispirited by these ugly developments but see it as a challenge to increase their efforts in their duties,” he added.
Similarly, Dr Abdullahi Jabi, Secretary-General, International Institute of Professional Security, said severe punishment should be melted out to those behind the killings.
Jabi said this was imperative to send serious warning to those who may want to indulge in such dastardly act in the future.
“It is out of lawlessness and lack of respect for patriotism for anybody to think of attacking military personnel for whatever reason.
“I understand that they were simply going for a truce; if the police have failed in their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties in those areas, the military should not also fail because they are the last option.
“It is unfortunate that the ugly situation happened, but one thing I’m sure of is that the community will pay the price and I’m sure they are already paying the price”, he said.
Jabi noted that it was a bad development for civilians to attack military personnel, adding that the action was a serious disgrace to the profession in the eyes of the global community.
Mr Kenneth Okechukwu, a civil servant in the FCT, while condemning the killing of the 16 soldiers, said it was important for security agencies and not just the military, to apply 100 per cent safety measures at all times, not just during operations.
“Security agencies in the country must always be 100 per cent at alert during operations to avert reoccurrence of such attacks on operatives”, he said.
Similarly, Mrs Comfort Ogomudia, who hails from Ughelli, said though the military had always been seen as a threat by some people in the riverine areas, she was disappointed to hear about the killings
Ogomudia also said security personnel must always be at alert, no matter what operation they were going for.
Isaac Olabode, a trader, said that the incident was scary.
“How are we expected to react knowing that the people who are meant to protect us are being killed like some common men.
“From their ranks these were meant to be experienced men so how did the ambush really happen? It is rather unfortunate but may their souls rest in peace,” he said.
Olabode said notwithstanding the betrayal that resulted in the attack, it was time for security agencies to redouble efforts in earning citizens’ trust.
Similarly, an expert in Criminology and Security, Dr Ademola Adeoye, said the killings have raised significant concerns about public safety and security in the country.
Adeoye said any violence against security personnel, especially soldiers, not only jeopardises the safety of the personnel, but also a direct threat to rule of law and public order.
According to him, security personnel, particularly the Army, play vital role in maintaining law and order, upholding the principles of justice and ensuring the safety of the people.
“As such the safety and security of our officers are important and any attack on them is an attack on the foundations of our society.
“I therefore call on government at all levels, civil society organisations, Non Governmental Organisations and the general public to join hands in addressing this crisis. It is imperative that we work together.”
Alhaji Jimoh Hassan, an Abuja based businessman, condemned the killing of the soldiers and sympathised with their families.
“No matter what the country may be going through, it is not sufficient enough to kill one another, not even those who have been protecting the country and its people with their lives.
“This is the time we need to work together as one and ensure we live in peace and unity. If we are united, there is no way such act would be carried out,” he said.
An Abuja based lawyer, Kikelomo Atolagbe urged government to properly equip security personnel on the frontline for effective operations.
The lawyer said government should also strengthen community policing and foster trust and collaboration between security personnel and communities.
She added that there was need to raise public awareness on the importance of security and law enforcement officers and the critical role they play in the society.
The lawyer said Nigerians should also be sensitised on the negative consequences of attacks on security personnel to the peace and stability of the nation.
On his part, Mr Gad Peter, Executive Director Cleen Foundation, says any attack on security personnel is an attack on the Nigerian state.
He therefore charged the Department of State Services, the military, police and other security agencies to fish out the perpetrators.
The executive director said that Okuama community was duty bound to hand over those who murdered the army officers and soldiers.
Peter who condemned the act, however, cautioned against reprisal.
“If the military go back to the community for reprisal, we will also condemn it.
“Government must be more responsive in tackling internal crisis in communities.
“If government is more responsive, communities will not be in crisis, the military and police will not be sent to intervene.
“Government must ensure social justice to allow the military and police to perform their statutory duties,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria is not at war and must therefore reduce the number of time military personnel are involved in internal crisis.
“This is the reason why we are saying that internal problems are supposed to be handled by the police that have the requisite knowledge to intervene,” he added.
Dr Goddy Igbaekemen of the Department of Sociology, Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, said the killing portends serious danger for the country and highlighted the need to redesign the security architecture.
He added that engaging the military in settling communal dispute was an indicative of the loss of confidence in the police.
“Everything was as a result of the failure of the internal security architecture of the country that need to be redesigned.
“Let the police do their work properly and the military hold on to their statutory responsibility of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation,” he said.
A former Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, has condemned the killing of 17 officers of the Nigerian Army in Delta, describing the incident as very sad and unfortunate.
Obanikoro, also a former Ambassador to Ghana, made the remark while speaking on the sideline of the 10th Ramadan Lecture of Anwar-ul Islam College, Agege Old Students’ Association (ACAOSA), on Saturday in Lagos.
The lecture was titled, “Economic insecurity in Nigeria – Islamic solutions.”
Obanikoro said: “The killing of those soldiers is very sad and those killers must not go unpunished.
“We must make an example of them that nobody dare do that again.
“We must do it to the point that even when people see security officers in uniform, they will run, not to talk of killing them.
“That killing is very sad, it is very very unfortunate.”
On current economic challenges facing the nation, the APC chieftain said all hands must be on the deck for Nigeria to rise above all difficulties.
He said that President Bola Tinubu -led administration was also working hard to address all the challenges bringing difficulties to Nigeria.
He said: “We are going through a lot and a lot is also being done to ensure that things are normalised.
“The most important thing is the fact that all of us must play our part.
“The idea of thinking that only the president can change Nigeria is a wrong perception; everybody must play their part, if you don’t play your part, your country is not going anywhere.”
He said Nigeria would not get anywhere if all stakeholders, including teachers, students, police, civil servants, politicians and other people failed to conduct themselves very well and played active role.
“If everyone is playing his or her part, we shall make the job a lot easier for the president and for ourselves too so that everybody will be comfortable in the nation,” he added.
He decried that many Nigerians had become too lazy and not ready to work anymore, but just looking for easy money.
Obanikoro, who noted that while growing up, he had worked as a labourer in companies, a newspaper vendor and hawker, said that most Nigerians didn’t want hard work again, hence the reason for hunger in the land.
“I want to get rich overnight syndrome is killing Nigeria.
“Nigerians must change their attitude and disposition to life; we have become a nation of beggars and we have to turn around,” Obanikoro said.
Recall that on March 14, at least 17 senior military officers and soldiers of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, deployed on a peace-keeping mission to quell community clashes, were killed in Okuama community, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta.
The assailants ambushed the soldiers on the way and gruesomely murdered them while on a peaceful and mediation mission, after a reported case of communal clash between Okuama and Okoloba communities in Ughelli South and Bomadi LGAs of Delta.
Nigeria’s endemic insecurity took a different turn last week. Sixteen active duty soldiers were ambushed and killed by presumed youth militants in the Okuama area of Delta State. Not only were the soldiers killed, their remains were reportedly treated with barbaric disrespect and indignity. The most significant symbolism of the bloodbath is not that soldiers died. Soldiers signed up if necessary to die fighting in defence of the nation. In this instance, the soldiers did not die in any combat situation. Thes deceased were men of war who had gone in search of inter communal peace in their theatre of operation. They were slaughtered instead by a faction of the very people among whom they had gone to make peace.
The feversih hunt for the real perpetrators and effective background to what happened in Okuama has since commenced. The free use of illicit weapons as well as military gear by rival youth militia is self evident. The flamboyant presence of state enabled warlords asnon state wielders of illegal arms is also obvious. A long standing proliferation of military grade weapons in the entire area has been taken for granted for far too long. From the heydays of the Niger Delta militancy, all manner of criminality has become endemic. The Nigerian state itself cannot totally be exonerated from culpability in the militarization of consciousness in parts of riverine Delta.
When government recognizes certain warlords to the extent of ceding aspects of national security to them, the background for autorised criminality has been laid. It is common knowledge that the federal government has in recent times paid billions of Naira to companies owned by militant warlords to perform functions ordinarily reserved for the state or its agencies. But the precise immediate cause of this unwarranted bloodbath of the soldiers is what now constitutes a clear and present national security threat.
Understandable outrage and palpable fear has swept across the nation. There is outrage at the barbarity of what has happened. There is a clear sense of collective humiliation that our soldiers should be humiliated this way. But there is also fear as to what might result. Our history of the relationship between the military and the civilian populace is not too edifying. When civilians and soldiers clash, mayhem usually ensues. More people get killed than when the trouble started. Houses get burnt. Property gets destroyed. In all such aftermath, the victims are usually innocent others who happen to be in the vicinity of the affected neighbourhood.
Beyond predictable nationwide condemnations of the killing of the soldiers, something of a national consensus seems to have quickly emerged. It is on how not to treat our men and women under arms who are in harm’s way for the sake of the security of the rest of us all. The men and women who wear the nation’s uniforms in the pursuit of peace and security of the nation deserve to be treated with dignity. The choice to dedicate one’s life in the pursuit of the peace and security of the nation is the highest dedication to nation and fellow citizens.
Above everything else, the armed forces remain the highest expression of our national sovereignty. To assault men and women under arms and in uniform is a direct assault on national sovereignty. To assault and even kill personnel of the armed forces except in war is an outrageous affront on the supreme authority of the state. Those who bear illicit arms and use them to challenge the state ought to be fully aware of the consequences.
In encounters between armed forces personnel and even the most irate civilian factions, there is a clear Red line. Civilians in possession of unauthorized arms ought to know that attacking and killing active duty soldiers is crossing that Red line. Therefore, those who expected the worst outcome in retaliatory actions over the Delta incident may not have been too far off the mark.
Fear of frightening reprisals in all such situations is not just peculiarly Nigerian. It is inherent in the training and professional instincts of every military. For the military mindset, humanity resolves into two categories of people: Enemy or Friend. A Friend is to be protected. An Enemy is to be vanquished. Therefore, when a civilian populace that is entitled to the protection of soldiers crosses the Red lie to relate to soldiers as enemies, it sets itself up to be treated as an enemy force. The risk that we run in the Delta bloodbath is therefore a consequence of this breach of the psychological make up of every soldier. The challenge of military and political leadership in the present situation is one of management of violence to serve the ends of democratic civility and orderly coexistence. That obligation happens to be above the limited confines of the military’s professional mindset.
The situation requires a deft management of force to prevent unstructured reprisals and flagrant violations of the rights of innocent citizens. Reports from the affected area indicate that there have been increased hostile activity as well as suspected reprisals by the military and other opportunistic beneficiaries from the crisis. Clearly, the blazes that have been caught on video look more like reprisals by a determined adversary. The challenge to the military authorities in the situation is one of restraint to prevent reprisal attacks on the affected communities. For the political leaders, th challenge is to avoid incendiary rhetoric that could incite further aggravation of a bad situation. Even with the heat of anger on both sides and the avoidable actions that have taken place, the supreme national challenge remains that of maintaining peace, law and order in the affected areas.
Those who have equated the casualty count in the Delta incident to what has been happening to our troops in the North East miss the whole point. In the North East, there is an ongoing insurgency war. Casualties in a war situation are understandably considerable. It does not include the cold blooded massacre of service personnel on peace keeping operations. It is lazy analysis to lump the Delta bloodbath with other losses of lives of soldiers in different other parts of the country and term it the human costs of ‘insecurity’. A deliberate mass murder of military personnel whose only crime is that they happen to be soldiers by criminal gangs belongs in a different place. It must be punished for the reckless criminality that it is.
The incident in the Delta is ugly. But it is not new. We have had nasty confrontation between civilians and the armed forces previously. There was the famous Odi incident in Bayelsa State. In the early days of the Obasanjo civilian administration, a contingent of policemen deployed to keep the peace in Odi was attacked and most of them killed. Soldiers were sent in to investigate and bring perpetrators to book. Some of them were also killed. Clearly, the will of the state and the armed supremacy of the sovereignty of the state was under effective assault. The state responded by literally obliterating the Odi community. My late friend and then Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, later retold me the story of Odi. He took a Senate team to see what could be saved of Odi. When they got there, they were greeted by an eerie silence: charred homesteads, a field of carnage and not a single living being. His rhetorical question was forever unanswered: “Where is Odi?” Silence and emptiness were the answer that has lingered till today.
Similarly, inter communal clashes in the Zaki Biam area of Benue state assumed political dimensions during Obasanjo’s first term as civilian president. Civil peace was severely threatened. The will of the state was under severe threat as one of the community leaders happened to be a former Chief of Army Staff, General Victor Malu, whose politics ran at cross purposes with those of Mr. Obasanjo. Mr. Obasanjo ordered an armed invasion of Zaki Biam. Houses were razed. Many died. The community fled to neighbouring places.
Taken together, Odi and Zaki Biam become a gruesome short hand for a doctrine on the use of force in the preservation of the Nigerian state. It is neither new nor original. It goes back to Hobbes, Locke and Weber. Even Machiavelli had words of caution for those who must affront the Prince with force.
Let us give it a Nigerian name and call it the Obasanjo doctrine. In its simplest formulation, it clearly indicates that democracy should not mean reckless endangerment of the state by armed factions of the populace. At the back of this doctrine is the ancient stipulation that in order for individuals and groups to enjoy full freedoms and rights, the state must exist in the first place. In other words, the existence of the state is the first condition for the existence of rights. There are no rights in an anarchic vacuum. But the existence of the state is a function of the prevalence of a superior force over other forms of force, especially those that challenge the state’s monopoly of violence and force.
In the Obasanjo doctrine, therefore, once any section of the Nigerian community takes up arms to challenge or threaten the pre-eminence of the federal government, it becomes imperative for the federal sovereign to overwhelm that insurrection with terminal precision and decisive finality. That is the only way to discourage future random challenges to national sovereignty. According to Max Weber, “a state is a legitimate monopoly of force over a definite territory. The territorial legitimacy of a state corresponds to the area occupied by the group of individuals who signed on to the social contract.”
For a battle tested combatant, the Obasanjo doctrine is a derivative of the civil war dictum of “to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done!”. It served the national purpose of reuniting the country in 1970. When the military quit the stage in 1999 and enthroned civil democratic rule, it hoisted the doctrine of superiority of force as a cornerstone of national security.
Beyond Odi and Zaki Biam, the rise of militant ethno national and regional challenges to national sovereignty became more frequent. Easily the most pronounced and strategically significant was the Niger Delta militancy. It became fierce soon after Obasanjo completed his two term presidency in 2007. His successor, President Umaru Yar’dua had to contend with a fierce insurgency in the Niger Delta. His peace gestures were mistaken for weakness. Yar’dua invoked the Obasanjo doctrine. He mobilized the armed forces for a full scale assault on the worst parts of the Niger Delta. A full scale aerial bombardment of the areas controlled by the worst militant leaders was followed by ground assaults and take downs of militant camps and bastions. The overwhelming force of the federal forces secured a pax Nigeriana. The region was offered the human face of the Amnesty programme as an alternative to total military occupation. The Obasanjo doctrine would once again seem to have worked to the benefit of the Nigerian state.
Beyond the gruesome symbolism of assaulting the sovereignty of the nation, the killing of the soldiers in Delta is only one aspect of the spiraling insecurity in the nation. Other forms of our insecurity undermine other dimensions of our life as a nation. Kidnappings and abductions constrain the freedom of citizens to move freely in pursuit of their daily lives. Banditry in rural areas affect the nation’s food secueity by endangering the right of farmers to plant and harvest their crops freely. Separatist violence and militancy sffevt political freedoms of people in the affected areas for fear that a free expression of their political views could lead to threats to their lives. In the areas subject to jihadist violence, terrorism and fundamentalist insurgency, the secular essence of the Nigerian state is constantly called to question by militant zealots who seek territory, tribute to advance their bad ideology. Arguably, no aspect of the effects of our insecurity is more injurious that the other. But perpetrators of acts of insecurity whose actions endanger the existence of the very state undermine the very foundations of our corporate existence as a nation.
The Okuama killings have happened at a time when the need for national reassertion is highest. Therefore, the fallen heroes of Okuama waterside must be laid to rest in a most befitting manner. Adequate compensation and lifelong support must be extended to their families and dependents. The President as Commander –in- Chief must attend their funeral, preferably in full military regalia. He has taken a good step in conferring national honours on them. He must say something memorable about the sanctity of our national sovereignty and the special place of heroes who wear our nation’s uniforms and get into harm’s way in order to keep us all safe. It is the hour to serve notice to all trouble- makers and criminals that the hour of the walk over Nigerian state is over.
By Emmanuel Aziken.
After the initial hoopla of the Okuama killings of soldiers and later civilians turning into a channel for ethnic strife in Delta State, the people of the state are remarkably coming out united against the savagery in the state.
What started as the savage killing of 17 military officers and personnel penultimate Thursday, has now turned into an outcry of lamentations by many Deltans across the state.
Groups across the state have defied political, cultural, ethnic and other divisions to speak with one voice in protecting the state against the law of the jungle.
Remarkably, political tendencies that ordinarily would also have made partisan inferences to discomfit the Governor Sheriff Oborevwori administration have where they have not kept mum, even come out to rally the citizenry around the common interest of the state.
What some supposed would turn out as a war between the Ijaw and the Urhobo has to the consternation of their enemies united them against their common traducers.
Matthew Ogagavworia, President Atamu Social Club of Nigeria, Lagos, an Urhobo socio cultural group while appearing on Arise News Television on Saturday, 23 March 2024 said:
“The Ijaw and Urhobo are kith and kin. We are neighbours and also husbands and wives. In fact, it is even said that if you are an Ijaw king and your mother is not from Urhobo that something is wrong with your ancestry. that will tell you that our people have lived together and either we are wives to them or they are fathers to us.”
His words have found echo in Ijaw groups who have also come out to denounce alleged conspiracies on the part of the different ethnic groups against one another to cause the mayhem.
The Ijaw Youth Network has also faulted extraneous claims as made by a former minister of telecommunications, Gen. Tajudeen Olarenwaju to the award of oil pipeline contracts to non-state actors.
The IYN in a statement by its Coordinator, Frank Ebikabo and Secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, said the general’s statement only reechoed the same misguided and false narrative being peddled by frustrated oil thieves and their cohorts who did not get the pipeline contract of the NNPCL.
Whatever, what is increasingly becoming an issue for many is the assertion that a community of less than 2,000 persons many of whom are poor would not have had the kind of military prowess to have tackled the military delegation and killed the army officers.
That claim is what has given credence to the assertion by Senate President Godswill Akpabio that the probe into the repugnant killing of the military officers should look into the possible involvement of mercenaries.
Akpabio who is the highest elected political official from the South-South had said that he knows his people that they could not have done the horrendous act.
Remarkably, Governor Oborevwori has while not rushing to judgment has pledged cooperation with all stakeholders towards identifying the perpetrators of the act.
His commendable act in leading the initial efforts in resolving what was thought to be a communal crisis between the Urhobo of Ukuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area and the Ijaw of Okoloba in Bomadi Local Government Area, has also validated him. His administration had just five weeks before the horrendous act brought the two communities together to sign a peace agreement.
Mr Edwin Uzor, Special Adviser to Governor Oborevwori on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution had masterminded the agreement between the two communities towards resolving what had been an enduring border dispute between the two communities.
Present during signing of the peace accord were the members representing Bomadi constituency in the State House of Assembly, Boyo Preyor and his counterpart in Ughelli South, Festus Utuama.
Others present during signing of the peace accord were the Chairmen of both local government areas, representatives of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and representatives from both communities.
It is noteworthy that at the time the Oborevwori administration was bringing the two parties together that it was yet a contained conflict and the participation of the army had not been required.
How a dispute that was being contained and settled just five weeks ago ballooned into a firestorm that consumed the lives of the high level officers is what many are calling for a probe given the claims of some like Akpabio of a wider conspiracy.
It is interesting that besides the ethnic leaders of Urhobo and the Ijaw that the political leadership of the state have following the mayhem rallied around the state government.
The Delta State Advisory and Peace Building Council (DSA&PBC), a body comprising some of the state’s most eminent personalities led by Babangida era minister, Prof Sam Oyovbaire expressed uneqivocal condemnation of the killing of the army officers and soldiers.
The Council, at its meeting on Thursday 21st March 2024 at Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba, presided over by its chairman, Professor Oyovbaire, also expressed condolences to the Nigerian Army authority, the Presidency, the families of the dead officers and soldiers, and to the Government of Delta State for the very unnecessary colossal loss of lives.
In its resolution at the end of the meeting, the DSA & PBC commended the Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori for his timely responses to what it termed the very sad, complex and sorrowful situation.
The remarkable convergence of positions by the various political, ethnic and cultural divisions in the state is one that the Oborevwori administration surely needs today and thereafter in its quest to take the state to greater heights.
As Blessed Ughere, president, Urhobo Progress Union youth wing worldwide said in another interview, “Ijaw nation and Urhobo nation are not at war. Since the spokesman of the military say that they know those who are involved they should go after them and leave our people alone.”
It is a plea that everyone in Delta is pleading for.
By Pius Mordi
The gruesome and mindless killing of 17 servicemen at Okuama has occasioned the reenactment of the traumatic events of some years ago in Zaki Biam and Odi when the sins of a few sons of lucifer were visited on many innocent people. A similar thing was enacted in Gaza when some hotheads among Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted hundreds.
The response by Israel has divided opinions within the international community. Seven months after Hamas struck, the IDF is still executing its agenda to decimate the militant group. In the process, over 31,000 civilians in Gaza are said to been killed in the course of Israel’s operations. Here in Nigeria, there was no shortage of voices of condemnation of Israel just as there are many that support the IDF.
One of such vocal voices is that of Bashir Ahmad, one of former Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesmen who wholeheartedly condemned Israel for among other things overreacting and recklessly inflicting much havoc on the civilian population.
But after the terrible killings in Okuama happened, Ahmad who supported the mob killing of Deborah Samuel in a Zamfara school for alleged blasphemy against Islam became an apostle of indiscriminate retaliatory military operation at Okuama so that “to treat the people in the language they understand” in his tweet. Unfortunately, this was a common denominator in the response of Nigerians to the killings. The mass hysteria generated by the killing has had the effect of handing a carte blanche to the military to seek revenge on the community. When such things happen, only a small circle of people are usually involved in its conception and execution.
Just like the October 7, 2023 killing of Israelis by a section of Hamas militants where the people of Gaza had no fore knowledge of the operation or its execution, the people of Okuama were not consulted by the people that carried out the dastardly act nor was any endorsement given even after the killings.
In the aftermath of the hysteria, Okuama has become Gaza-nized. When Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, visited the area on Monday, March 18, 2024, he could not access the community. Similarly, the state Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Abaniwonda, admitted that he has been denied access to Okuama by the military since the incident took place. In fact, there was no Okuama to visit because it has become a war theatre. The military has condoned off the area with its retaliatory operation already on. The search for and smoking out of the perpetrators of the heinous killings is what Nigerians want. They should be fished out and made to face justice. But in demanding that the killers be made to account for their action, every care must be taken to avoid a wholesale decimation of Okuama.
By every means that does not endanger the civilian population, the military should apprehend those that carried out the killings. It is not an easy task but engaging in indiscriminate bombardment of the community is not an option or ought not to have been. For Okuama people, their story is that of having become displaced persons. Their community has been razed, many killed and the end of their nightmare is not in sight.
Right now, the people of Okuama need help. They have become internally displaced persons with nowhere to lay down their head. The cessation of the military operation may not bring any succour to them. When they eventually return to their community, there will no homes to welcome them back.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has asked for the support of the Delta State government to arrest a “suspect” who made a video, which went viral social media, on the killing of officers and soldiers in the State.
In a trending video on TikTok, an unidentified man, suspected to be the ring leader of the gang that killed the 17 soldiers in Okuama community, Ughelli South Local Council Area, came out to justify his action.
In the trending, the young man, who did not bother to mask his face, dismissed reports that the slain soldiers were on a peace mission to the community.
He claimed that the officers and soldiers were rather at the community to fight on behalf of neighbouring Okoloba community in Bomadi local government area of the State, in a lingering land dispute.
According to the suspected gang leader, who said that his father was a retired Nigerian Army Captain, who died last year, the soldiers earlier came and took away some people and allegedly killed them, only to come back to arrest leaders of Okuama community.
Speaking in Pidgin English, he said in the video, which he repeatedly said would be his last: “Okuama and Okoloba get land issue.
“Small crisis come dey. Ijaw people wey Federal Government give power … dat man go use army carry people from Okoloba community. Now dey don dey come back to come carry community leaders.
“And once they carry community leaders, you know the youths are powerless.”
The suspected gang leader also said that in the circumstances, they had no regret in killing the soldiers.
Reacting, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj-Gen. Edward Buba, in a statement in Abuja on Friday said the assistance of the State government is needed to apprehend the suspect.
According to Maj-Gen. Buba, troops are still hunting for perpetrators of the barbaric killing of officers and soldiers that occurred on March 14 in Delta State and that no significant arrest had been made yet.
Buba said that clearance operations, as well as cordon and search were conducted to, among other things, recover the weapons of the deceased soldiers.
He listed some of the communities in which troops had carried out operations to include Akugbene, Okuama and Okoloba.
Others he said are Amusamo, Okwagbe, Arhavwarien, Pirigbene and Igbomatoro communities all in Delta.
According to him, the decomposing hearts of some of the killed soldiers were recovered during the search, while the manhunt continues with no significant arrest made yet.
“Significantly, there is a viral video of a person admitting to have perpetrated the killings. The video, among other things, helps to narrow investigations to persons of interest and their cohorts.
“Accordingly, the state governments and host communities of these personalities are required to assist investigation in flushing them out.
“There can be no hiding place for perpetrators of such dastardly act against our nation. This is a clarion call to duty by members of those communities and the state government,” Buba said.
Charity must begin at home. I am from Ewhu Kingdom, Delta State. Okuama Community in Ewhu Kingdom has been in the news for the wrong reasons. I commiserate with Nigerian Army and families of the 16 officers and soldiers who lost their lives. I used to join other children to line the streets of Ughelli waving the Nigerian flag in the early 70s to receive top military officers like the late Major General David Ejoor and Brigadier Samuel Ogbemudia. I have always been interested in military affairs. So, the death of these officers and soldiers very saddening.
I also sympathise with my Okuama people who lost loved ones and properties. Okuama remains inaccessible, so we do not even know the number of dead indigenes and level of destruction. The Nigerian constitution presumes all Nigerians innocent until proven guilty. Okuama indigenes are Nigerians and that benefit of the doubt should be extended to them. The media trials and propaganda are nauseating. The federal and state governments should get to the root of the matter and prosecute the perpetrators, whoever they are. The Delta State government should also resolve this land dispute once and for all. Too many land disputes have lingered in Delta State for too long, some for over 60 years. They are dormant volcanoes. We should avoid more explosions. The state government needs to be fair, just, proactive and decisive in resolving them. We cannot continue to live like this.
The Inheritors
My wife and I had a very good laugh recently. We were watching a skit where a young man was asked what he does for a living. He said “I am a next of kin. I inherit properties.” Sadly, that is the reality in some parts of Nigeria in varying degrees.
Some inheritors or next of kin to whom properties or other assets are going to be bequeathed to are just waiting for the theirs father, mother or whoever bequeathed the assets to them to die so that they can take over. Some have simply refused to develop themselves. Some are school dropouts, drug addicts, layabouts, and jobless people who perambulate the town from morning till night. They do absolutely nothing. Some are now in their 50s and 60s and are still waiting. If God blesses your father, mother or benefactor with longevity, what can you do about that? Kill him or her so that you can take over? No way. You will go and rot in jail.
It is very saddening to see people whose parents got their university degrees 40, 50 or 60 years ago, but are school dropouts and layabouts. They might inherit the properties when the benefactors are gone, but where are the skills, requisite knowledge and training to sustain and protect these assets. Your parents or benefactors created, sustained and protected these assets. If you lack the requisite skills to create, you should at least know how to sustain and protect the assets and wealth you inherited. If not, you will start disposing them off gradually either to keep body and soul together or sustain your addictions: drug addiction, life of debauchery, gambling, etc. Anybody with these addictions who is not earning continuous income usually ends up in the streets hungry and/or homeless. It is just a matter of time. We have many of these cases all around us. There are many inheritors who frittered away their inheritance.
But some cultures are most notorious. I consider their inheritance culture very weird. The first son inherits everything. He can decide to give his siblings part of the inheritance or keep everything to himself. One young man relocated from Nigeria many years ago. The father was stupendously rich. I did not see the need because I felt there was enough for everyone. That was until someone told me that everything would go to his eldest brother upon the father’s demise. Since his relationship with his eldest brother was frosty, hanging around became meaningless to him. This culture has refused to evolve. I learnt that the people who should abrogate this unjust and obnoxious culture are the prime beneficiaries. They are in their 20s to 80s and are not interested in abrogating it. “No one presides over his own liquidation,” they would probably say to themselves. So the obnoxious and unjust culture is likely to linger for long. But some fathers who probably were short-changed by their eldest siblings have found a way around it so that thunder does not strike in the same place twice. Some share their assets while they are still alive. Some write iron-cast wills that are difficult to contest in court. To die intestate in such cultures automatically wills everything to the eldest son.
In many parts of Nigeria, there used to be a culture where the daughters inherited nothing from the parents. It was assumed that since they are now married, they should share whatever their husbands inherited with them. As a result of landmark cases, deliberate acts by some parents and evolution, daughters now get a share of their father’s estate.
What is the lesson for the upcoming generation to learn? What is your greatest assets? Assets come in form in the people, buildings, shares, cash, etc. But the greatest of them all are your children or other inheritors. We must learn to invest both time and resources to raise responsible children. If not every other asset you spent time acquiring might pass on to other people when you are gone. One trainer/life coach was talking to his audience in 1994. He told them that “I hope you are aware that there is no more land in Ikoyi.” He paused to allow it sink in. “But some of you will become landlords in Ikoyi because the owners or their children will sell to their houses to you.” Thirty years later, it has and it is still coming to pass big time. Children of farmers, teachers, civil servants and nobodies 30 years ago have become landlords in Ikoyi. This does not apply to Ikoyi only. If you go to the older parts of Lagos like Surulere and Yaba, you will be shocked at the speed with which the old houses are giving way to new houses. Who are the people rebuilding on these spaces? A few are the inheritors who are upgrading what they inherited, but majority are new owners. In all fairness, some of the inheritors simply sold their inheritance and relocated to the US, Europe and of recent, Canada and Australia. But those not equipped for life after their parents’ departure are in various state of “disrepair.”
But I also know some rich people in the 70s, 80s and 90s who knew that their greatest assets are their children. They invested time and resources in them. Like their fathers, some remain big players in corporate Nigeria and other aspects of life. They have taken what they inherited from their fathers to heights their fathers could not have imagined. There is nothing wrong with acquisition of physical assets, but your greatest assets are your children and family. Prioritise and invest money, time and energy in them.
President Bola Tinubu says that killers of military personnel in Delta community will face the full wrath of the law in order to curtail attacks on military and security infrastructure.
Tinubu said this when he hosted the leadership of the Senate to a dinner to break the Ramadan fast at the State House on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the military would continue to enjoy the support of his administration in neutralising security threats across the country.
“Our armed forces are working hard, and we will not allow attackers to undermine the integrity and value of our armed forces and its leadership.
“We will continue to encourage and fight for our sovereignty, our individual rights to exist, and we will succeed in banishing poverty from our land,’’ the President stated.
On the issue of budget padding, Tinubu said that the integrity of the National Assembly must remain intact and that his administration would always encourage cooperation for the advancement of the nation.
“I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back. I appreciate all of you for the expeditious handling of the budget. Thank you very much.
“Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; they did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought. But your integrity is intact.
“I am grateful for what you have been doing. The natural challenge we are facing will be over.
“On the current economic difficulty, we are about turning the corner. Our revenue has improved. All we have to do is to control expenditure and manage ourselves better,” the President said.
Tinubu thanked members of the National Assembly for the speedy attention given to the Student Loan Amendment Bill, urging more tolerance, forgiveness, and charity during Ramadan.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, thanked the President for hosting the lawmakers, noting that regular interactions would enhance understanding and productive governance.
“We bring you greetings from the 10th senate. We bring you assurances of continuous collaboration.
Akpabio said that with a President, his Vice and the Chief of Staff as members of the National Assembly, they have no option than to give the executive full cooperation to succeed.
The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru, on Thursday assured that those who killed the 16 army personnel in Delta would not go scot free.
The minister also assured that the school children abducted in Kuriga, Kaduna State, would be rescued and reunited with their families.
Badaru made the commitments while addressing troops of 1 Division Nigerian Army on Thursday in Kaduna.
Nobody kills military personnel and go scot free, he said, assuring the troops that the defence ministry is not relenting in bringing the killers to book.
He said President Bola Tinubu is aware of the sacrifices the armed forces are doing to safeguard the country and its people.
“He is asking you to do more and more until the issue of insecurity is ended. With you we have the power, will, strength and determination to do it.
“We also know what you have been doing to rescue the kidnapped school children, and I am sure we will rescue them and unite them with their parents.
“The strategy that has been briefed is going on very well,” he said.
Badaru thanked all personnel of the Nigerian military for their gallantry and efforts to make the nation very secure.
Recall that the 16 military personnel were killed in an ambush in Okuama community in Delta while on a peace mission on March 14.
President Tinubu has announced plan to give the deceased a posthumous national recognition and honour.