Okuama: Okoloba Denies Link With Army Visit, Cries Out to Oborevwori, Others For Peace

By Sunday Onye, Senior correspondent

Fresh Tension has overwhelmed the riverine abode of Bomadi and Ughelli South Local Government Areas of Delta State following a renewed attack on Okoloba people by militias youths of Okuama community, hours after the Nigerian Army visited the community on September 9, 2024 in search of killers of its 17 personnel on March 2024.

However, the peace loving Okoloba community has cried out to the governor of Delta State, His Excellency Sheriff Oborevwori and security agents to call members of the Okuama community to order for peace and stability in the area.

Chairman of Okoloba community, Mr. Clement Koki, who tasked the Delta State Government to identify the root cause and provide a lasting solution to the Okuama/Okoloba rift, said Okuama people “unfortunately launched attacks on them believing the falsehoods spread by 5th columnists and a section of the media” that Okoloba people masterminded the military visit.

Koki , said Okoloba people were equally traumatized victims of the March 2024 killing of military personnel, were also jolted from sleep on September 9, 2024 by convoy of military boats and arsenal along the Forcados river from the Warri axis. Okoloba people, he said, ran for cover until the soldiers returned from Okuama and went back to the Warri end.

Congress learnt that the Nigerian Army had in March 2024 allegedly burnt down Okuama, Ughelli South LGA of Delta State, over the killing of 17 military personnel allegedly perpetrated by persons of the Okuama community, an Urhobo enclave along the Forcados river.

Koki, who said Okoloba community was committed to the Okoloba-Okuama peace building process, tasked all security agencies to be alert and stop escalation of the renewed hostilities.

He said on the same September 9, 2024 when the military revisited Okuama and left, Okuama people chased a passenger speed boat heading to Bomadi town in hope of finding Okoloba people to kill, on the falsehood that Okoloba orchestrated the military comeback.

He further stated that on September 10, 2024, Okuama people blocked River Forcados with speed boats and accosted a boat conveying Okoloba people on return from a burial function, took them to Okuama and beat them mercilessly with guns, machetes, clubs and threatened to kill all nine of them but for the passionate appeal of the driver known to them, and who said his passengers were not Okoloba indigenes.

On the military mission said to be preceded by drones-assisted espionage, Koki referred the Okuama people and 5th columnists to the statement by the Chief of Defence Staff in Vanguard Newspapers of September 11, 2024, p.12, which stated: “The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa speaking through Gen. Onumajuru said: “People have been asking questions about what is happening in Okuama. I want to let you know that the killing of the 17 personnel of the armed forces of Nigeria will never go unpunishable….Do you remember how long it took to get Osama Bin Laden. So we are working on getting the killers of the 17 military personnel. No matter how long it takes, we will hunt them down”.

Stressing that Okoloba, an agrarian community, does not hold capacity to determine and control Nigerian military movements, Koki, advised Okuama people to desist from what will jeopardize the peace-building process.

He noted: “Okoloba Federated Community takes serious exception to our being linked to the movement and operations of the Nigerian Army on 9th September, 2024 in Okuama. We will not hesitate to take very necessary drastic legal action against any person, group of persons, mischief makers, fifth columnists alike, including media houses and personalities, who persist in the deliberate game of blackmailing our good reputation as a community by portraying us as the masterminds of the military operation or any wrong impressions now, in the past or in the future”.

The Okoloba community chairman insisted that despite misunderstanding with Okuama, the Okoloba people were kind, hospitable and peace-loving and would not orchestrate killings via state actors.