Senate President Godswill Akpabio has offered that those behind the killing of 16 military personnel in Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State last Thursday, were non-natives of the Niger-Delta.
Akpabio hails from Akwa Ibom State in the Niger-Delta.
Armed men had on Thursday, March 14, attacked and killed 15 personnel of the Nigerian Army during a peace mission to Okuama Community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Speaking on Tuesday during a debate on two merged motions by Senators Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, APC, Katsina Central, and Edeh Dafinone, APC, Delta Central, Akpabio opined that those who killed the soldiers may be mercenaries.
Akpabio countered the Motion by Dafinone, calling for relief and assistance to people of the community over the reported retaliation attack by the Nigerian Army.
Through the weekend, several houses in the community were burned down, and people killed, in what has been put down to reprisals by the military.
In response to Dafinone’s Motion, the Senate President said no conclusions should be reached until after a thorough investigation.
Akpabio said: ‘’I don’t want you to conclude. I don’t believe these people are from the Niger-Delta, those who did the killings. We respect men and women in uniform.
“That is why I am saying that your additional prayers should actually be ‘to carry out a thorough investigation to know whether these people were mercenaries from outside Niger-Delta who came to commit this crime because I don’t think these people are Niger-Deltans.
“We are not at war. Even in the face of war, to lose such number of personnel…. No community will go to the extent of doing this kind of thing. I don’t think they are from Niger-Delta.
“I think the first point should be that we should first establish the culprits who committed this crime. We must take it seriously –supposing they are not from Niger-Delta? Supposing they are not even Nigerians?
“And we now come and talk about giving relief materials to …people should pay for the consequences of their crime. I will not support relief material.”
The Senate thereafter ordered the probe into the killings, and directed its Committee on Defence, Army, Navy, and Air Force to liaise with the Military authorities.
The Red Chamber further called on the Federal Government to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to book, just as it observed a minute silence in the honour of those killed.
The Senate, however, rejected a prayer to observe a minute silence or to commiserate with the families of innocent civilians killed in the process, saying that their numbers are still unknown.
While the Senate rejected an additional prayer for relief materials for the community by the National Emergency Management Agency, the Upper Chamber resolved that families of the killed soldiers should be compensated immediately as moved by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, and seconded by Senator Tony Nwoye.
