A member of the World Council of Urhobo Professors, Sunny Ahwefeada, has lamented over the failure of security operatives to apprehend those responsible for killing 17 army personnel in the Okuma community in Delta State after one year.
Naija News reports that the military had taken over the community after 17 Army personnel were gruesomely killed on March 14, 2024, in the riverine community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state, causing many residents to flee into the creeks and other neighboring communities.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Ahwefeada said that identifying those behind the heinous crime and bringing them to book will go a long way in bringing closure to the case.
The Urhobo leader also lamented over the death of one Okuama community leader arrested in the aftermath of the incident, stressing that other leaders are still languishing in detention after months of arrest and appealed for their release.
He said, “We are all confused that one year after the intelligence community has not been able to make any headway in identifying the real perpetrators of this and bringing them to book, it is quite unfortunate.
“And I should put it on record here that identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to book is a step towards closure. So, we are waiting and hopeful that someday the intelligence community will be able to do the need so that we can actually know those behind that heinous crime.
“These people that were arrested, even if they are considered suspects, should be handed over to the police and be charged to court. So, as far as we are concerned, in as much as they have not been convicted, they are still innocent, and we feel that they have been held for too long.
“They were arrested between 18th and 20th of August, this is March, this is more than half a year since they incarcerated, and as I said earlier, one of them, an 80-year-old man died in military detention. So, we are thinking that these people should be released.”
