Fresh insights into the March 14 massacre of 17 soldiers in Delta State challenge the prevailing belief that a dispute between Okuama, an Urhobo community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, and Okoloba, an Ijaw town in Bomadi Local Government Area, was the primary cause.
According to Saturday Vanguard, multiple sources suggest that a group of oil bunkerers, possibly hired as mercenaries, may have orchestrated the violence.
While the Army conducts extensive searches across Delta and Bayelsa States to apprehend the culprits and recover stolen weapons, no formal announcement regarding the capture of the perpetrators has been made.
Acting on intelligence, soldiers laid siege to Okuama since March 15 and subsequently raided the Igbomotoru community in Bayelsa State on March 17, targeting a suspected militant leader and oil thief.
This operation drew attention to an alleged militant leader and oil thief, whose father is a retired army officer. Controversy surrounds his ethnicity, whether he is an Ijaw from Igbomotoru or has maternal ties to the community. His purported involvement in the Okuama killings prompted the army’s deployment to Igbomotoru.
A major clue suggesting oil bunkers’ involvement surfaced when a supposed militant claimed in a trending video that the soldiers were killed due to their support for rival oil bunkerers.
The individual stated in the video: “That is why the action (assassination of the soldiers) took place but people say the soldiers came for peacekeeping. Point of correction – no army came for peacekeeping. They are(sic) fighting in support of somebody (names withheld), who ordered them to do.”
However, within the week, another militant group, the Amagbein Force, in a trending video, pledged allegiance to its leader, who coincidentally was the same militant leader sought by the army in Igbomotoru.
Could it be a coincidence? The group member, who spoke, did not make a direct claim that they participated in the killing of soldiers at Okuama but implied that oil bunkering would not stop unless the government settled the matter peacefully.
Amagbein, previously accused by the army of being a militant and oil bunkerer, has persistently evaded authorities.
Many expect that the army, which confirmed narrowing investigations to ‘persons of interest and their cohorts’, will release the outcome of its investigations shortly.
