The military may have dropped hint of the root cause of the gruesome murders of 17 of its officers put to death in Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
On March 14, seventeen soldiers on a peace mission over communal clash between Okoloba community and its Okuama counterpart were killed at the latter.
The victims were brutally murdered with their private parts and hearts harvested and made away with by their killers.
“They(soldiers) were rounded up and all shot, and not only shot, their body parts were cut, their hearts and private parts were removed,” Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, told of the incident on Wednesday on Arise TV’s programme.
Musa also hinted that the massacre was connected to oil theft saying, “The Okuama attack was premeditated. Just because they are a group of criminals, cultists, militants making a lot of money from crude oil theft, they believe they are above the law. And they did this deliberately.”
He added, “The aftermath definitely will be that gradually, when we finish the cordon and search operations, and cordon and search operation means we are searching every nook and cranny within the community because we know they have a lot of illegal money from crude oil theft, they have bought a lot of weapons.
“During the disarmament exercise that was conducted, a lot of them didn’t hand over all they had. And because it is in the riverine area close to other countries, they have ways that they also bring in weapons. It was because they had weapons that they were able to perpetrate this.
“So, it is for us to thoroughly clean this community and ensure that no weapons, no explosives, nothing is left there, and that none of them is hiding.”
