King Aseimieghen Ofongo, the paramount ruler of the Igbomotoru communities in Bayelsa state, has claimed that the military tracked down Endurance Amaghein, a Niger Delta militant who was wanted for the murder of 17 soldiers in Okuama, to Igbomotoru.
He said that the military set out to capture Amagbein after learning of information indicating that he was holed up in Igbomotoru. But he also said that when the military forces arrived, Amagbein’s allies rebelled against the effort to arrest them. The military chose to react when faced with unwavering opposition, which resulted in a gunfight and further escalated the war.
He highlighted that the longstanding dispute between the Okuama [Urhobo] and Okoloba [Ijaw] communities, stemming from disagreements regarding ownership of oil wells had caused one of the factions to seek the intervention of Amagbein to mediate in the conflict.
He said in an interview with Arise TV, ”The Urhobos and the Ijaws had a misunderstanding over the Oil Wells. And at the end of the day, one of the parties invited Amagbein to intervene. And he went there and some military officers who were there to make the peace were shot dead. The military heard that Amagbein was hiding in Igbomotoru and they went to arrest him.
And as they are trying to arrest him, his boys who were there become stubborn with them. The military decided to fight back and that was how the firing incident happened. And some of them were killed because they also killed Senior Army Officers.”
