FOR 10 days, the nation is understandably simmering over the butchery of 17 officers and personnel of the Nigerian Army, who journeyed on a peace mission to Okuama, an Urhobo community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, on March 14.
The subsequent discovery that the heartless killers beheaded some of the soldiers and mutilated the remains of others infuriated Nigerians the more.
Even more worrisome is the truth that the killers also collected the arms and ammunition of the Nigerian Army found in the possession of the assassinated soldiers, a development that no security agency would joke with until the weapons are found and retrieved.
But how did a communal misunderstanding between Okuama and Okoloba, an Ijaw community in Bomadi Local Government Area, Delta State, degenerate into the slaughter of soldiers, especially after the people of Okuama had received the soldiers in their territory, and served them kola nut?
What crime did the soldiers commit to warrant such jungle justice?
Having signed a peace accord brokered by the Delta state government, more than a month earlier, seemingly to forestall further killings, kidnap, and counter-kidnap by both communities, why did some Okuama youth waylay, and take hostage Mr. Anthony Aboh, an indigene of Okoloba, whose rescue attempt by soldiers resulted in the March 14 debacle?
However, if truth be told, were soldiers, job-wise, supposed to have embarked on peace talks with the people of Okuama, who are having a land dispute with Okoloba?
What were the compelling reasons for the military authorities authorizing such peace talks, headed by the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Lt. Colonel A.H Ali, in a communal dispute between the two communities? Besides the lieutenant colonel were two majors, one captain, and others.
Who authorized the mission by the military officers? They could not have undertaken such a mission without authorization and planning.
