UMPAG Condemns Attack On Soldiers, Razing Of Okuama Community

The Urhobo Media Practitioners Advocacy Group (UMPAG) has condemned the deaths of soldiers and civilians, as well as the destruction of the Okuama community in Ewu Kingdom, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State.

The group, in a statement signed by its secretary, Onojegen Theophilus Okpare, and Shedrack Onitsha, Executive member, stated that as a body of trained media workers, they strongly condemned the killing of military personnel and some Okuama indigenes.
According to the statement, “From the information available to us, there is a grand conspiracy to twist the facts of the bizarre incident to paint one party as savages and the other as saints.”

“According to our findings, the incident occurred shortly after a renewed crisis over a land dispute between the Okuama community in Ughelli South and the Okoloba community in the state’s Bomadi Local Government Area.

“For centuries, the Urhobos of Okuama in the Ewu Kingdom have coexisted peacefully with their Okoloba neighbours. Both communities have strong inter-marriage relationships and can fluently speak Urhobo and Ijaw.

“We have also been informed that, as a result of the personnel’s deaths, the Okuama community has been destroyed by enraged soldiers. The situation has shattered the peace and law-abiding citizens in the Okuama community, especially since it has not been established that Okuama youths were responsible for the heinous killing of military men. This is also something we strongly condemn.

“While we sympathise with the Nigerian military, the Federal Government, and the Delta State Government over the unjustified killing of these personnel, we join other Nigerians in calling for an independent investigation and the arrest of the perpetrators.

“To that end, we urge the Delta State Government and the Nigerian Army to convene an urgent joint panel of inquiry to determine the cause and circumstances surrounding the deaths of the soldiers on the aforementioned peace mission to the Okuama and Okoloba communities.

“Based on the information available to us, we demand that the panel investigate the following issues: what was the true mission of the soldiers in the Okuama and Okoloba communities; were the Ovie (King) of Ewu Kingdom and her subjects informed of the military visit on a peace mission; and was the Executive Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, informed of the peace mission.
“Why did the situation report come from DPO Bomadi rather than DPO Otu-Jeremi? Why would the military, stationed in Bomadi, embark on a “PEACE” mission to Okuama in Ughelli South without the participation of DPO Jeremi and local government officials?
“Why was the military “PEACE” mission escorted by Ijaw youths? How come, civilian members of the “PEACE” mission survived to tell the story, but no military man did? If the King, PG, DPO Jeremi, and LG officials were not involved, who signed the peace accord? Additionally, why did the situation report come from DPO Bomadi rather than DPO Otu-Jeremi?
“Where did the community obtain such sophisticated weapons to wage such war against the military men? Why were the police, DSS, and other sister security agencies not involved in the military peace mission to Okuama? Why was the military peace mission limited to the Okuama community?
“According to reports, the bodies of the slain military personnel were recovered from the Forcados River.” Who dumped the bodies in the river? Are we sure that warlords from neighbouring areas were responsible for the attack on soldiers? Were Okuama and Okoloba at war for 16 soldiers to be brutally killed in less than 24 hours?
“Who were the civilians who took the military to Okuama, as quoted in the report by Sunday Bomadi Chancel, who had previously claimed over 22 soldiers were killed? Who were the Ijaw civilians who accompanied the soldiers to Okuama? How did they survive while the soldiers were killed?
“There are numerous perplexing questions to be asked about the incident. Based on the foregoing, we urge Delta State’s Executive Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, and the Nigerian military to conduct a thorough investigation into the attack on soldiers and residents of the Okuama community.

“As media professionals, we are mediators and peace advocates; therefore, we call on our people in the Okuama community and our Ijaw brothers in the Okoloba community to maintain the existing peace while the government and military investigate the cause of this tragedy.”

“We use this medium to urge the military to refrain from attacking peaceful and law-abiding citizens in the area in light of the recent development. We also urge parties involved in the communal crisis to refrain from making unguarded statements in order not to exacerbate the crisis,” it added.