A resident of Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State has revealed that Nigerian army have taken over the hamlet and are tearing down buildings in response to the recent killing of sixteen soldiers there.
According to the anonymous community source who spoke with Vanguard, they don’t believe the troops will be leaving anytime soon.
According to the source, the soldiers typically visit their community to make purchases before leaving to head back to Okuama.
The source said, “As I’m talking to you right now, soldiers are there and they continue the demolition of buildings in the community, and I don’t think they would leave so soon.
“They usually come to our community to buy some stuff and go back to Okuama.”
A few days ago, soldiers from the 222 battalion of the military Joint Task Force (JTF) Bomadi Division, led by the commander, Major Jaffa, were ambushed and killed when they were on a peacekeeping mission between Okuama and Okoloba communities in Delta State.
According to the report by Vanguard, the situation became more tensed the following day as more soldiers were killed in the community.
The Nigerian Army had later disclosed that some persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of the soldiers.
It was gathered that residents of the community had fled to neighbouring communities for fear that the Army might launch reprisal attacks on the community.
Reports had later emerged that Okuama community has been razed. Although there were no details about who burnt the village, there were suspicions that the community was burnt by soldiers to retaliate the killing of their colleagues.
