Killing Of Soldiers: Sen. Joel-Onowakpo Condemns Gruesome Murder of 16 Army Personnel on Peace Mission, Condoles Military, Families Of Victims
…calls for calm amidst growing tension over the incident
The Senator representing Delta South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Joel-Onowakpo Thomas has condemned in strong terms the barbaric and gruesome murder of 16 soldiers in Okuama Community, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The Senator while reacting to the needless death of the soldiers who were on a a peace keeping mission in a statement he personally signed, described the incidence as a crisis taken too far.
The Senator who is the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, in the statement commiserated with the military and the immediate families of the deceased soldiers.
He therefore called for thorough investigation into the remote and the immediate causes of the crisis that led to the unwarranted killing of innocent soldiers and emphasized the need for the security agencies to go after the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Senator Joel-Onowakpo also sympathized with the families of those who may have lost their loved ones as a result of the crisis and call for immediate intervention of both the state and federal governments to avoid further escalation of the crisis.
He stressed the need for the military to tactically deploy intelligence in the pursuit of the perpetrators of the dastardly act, to avoid killing of innocent children and women of Okuama community who may not know those who carried out the heinous crime.
Furthermore, he advised the people of Okuama community to join forces with the military to arrest killers of the 16 gallant soldiers.
You may wish to recall that there has been decades long land dispute between Okuama Community, Ughelli South Local Government Area and Okoloba Community in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State.
The soldiers were on a peace keeping mission in the community following hostilities between the two communities as a result the lingering land dispute, before they ran into an ambush that led to the death of the soldiers.
