Senator Godswill Akpabio, President of the Senate has alleged that the killers of 16 officers and men of the 181 Amphibious Battalion at Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta may not be from the Niger Delta geo-political zone of the country or even from Nigeria.
Akpabio spoke on Tuesday during a debate on two merged motions by Senators Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, APC, Katsina Central and Edeh Dafinone, APC, Delta Central expressing that the youths who gruesomely killed the Soldiers may be Mercenaries.
His words: ”I don’t think they are from the Niger Delta, they may be mercenaries.”
The Senate has begun a probe into the killings as it has asked its Committee on Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Force to liaise with the Military authorities to get more information on the remote and immediate cause of what it described as a dastardly act.
Senate has called on the federal government to apprehend the perpetrators of the horrific killing of military personnel in the Okuoma community in Delta state on March 14, 2024, and bring them to book, just as it observed a minute silence in the honour of those killed.
The Upper Legislative Chamber equally called for the recruitment of more policemen so that the military will not be dragged into civil matters.
The Senate however rejected a prayer to observe a minute silence or to commiserate with the families of innocent civilians killed in the process, saying that their numbers are still unknown.
While the Senate rejected an additional prayer for relief materials for the community by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA as proposed by Senator Dafinone, the Upper Chamber resolved that families of the killed soldiers should be compensated immediately as moved by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin APC, Kano North and seconded by Senator the Tony Nwoye, LP, Anambra North.
