The people of Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government area Delta State have denied involvement in the killing of soldiers attached to 63 Brigade.
The State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, had earlier in a statement described the killings as alien to the culture of Deltans.
While the Governor said the incident is despicable and not in sync with the culture and tradition of Deltans and runs contrary to their values, the Okuama people have denied the killing, alleging that hundreds of persons were killed by persons wearing army uniforms who invaded the community.
An indigene of Okuama community, Onajite Idiaphoro, in an interview appealed to President Bola Tinubu to halt the invasion of the community by the military, pleading for the setting up of an enquiry to unveil the real culprits in the killings.
“We were holding regular community meeting on Thursday when some men in army uniforms and carried by gun boat invaded the meeting demanding to see our community chairman.
“As soon as our chairman was identified, the men said that they were taking him to Bomadi for questioning but the community women resisted the approach because Okuama is under Ughelli South Local Government area and the chairman did not commit any crime neither the community that demands military invasion.
“The men started shooting killing two persons instantly and injuring many persons before driving away,” Idiaphoro said.
He continued that after the first shooting, residents of the community, especially the men started moving out fearing the worst could happen later.
“After four hours later, the men came back with many gunboats, shooting sporadically into the community and killing many persons including women and children before burning houses,” he lamented.
He queried how the people who are mere fishermen and potato farmers have guns to fight, talk less killing 15 Army officers “as wrongly” reported?
“Okuama community has been at the receiving end of the crisis with Okoloba. We call on President Bola Tinubu, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, and the Chief of Army Staff to immediately halt the invasion of the community and set up a panel of inquiry to unravel the true killers of the reported 15 soldiers,” Idiaphoro pleaded.
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