The Mayor of Urhoboland and notable ex-militant leader in the Niger Delta region, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has cried out for help for residents of Okuama over what he described as the humanitarian crisis in the the aftermath of the killing of soldiers by hoodlums in community.
The killing of the 17 soldiers has met with reprisal attacks visited on the community by soldiers who are carrying out vengeance on the brutal murder of their colleagues.
The Mayor in a statement issued in Abuja over the weekend maintained that the act committed by the hoodlums against the soldiers who were on peaceful mission to Okuama was condemnable describing it as an attack against the unity and strength of the Nigerian state.
According to the Mayor, the hoodlums who killed the soldiers actually bit more than they could chew, noting that it was one absurdity too many. He said, “the killers of the military men took hooliganism to a lunatic fringe and would surely meet their waterloo – they can only run but not hide.”
However, the Mayor expressed concern over the plight of women and children who are reportedly caught up in the thick forests around the troubled areas at the wake of the military invasion of Okuama razing every visible structure in the village.
He said the military action has caused a massive exodus of the residents into the nearby bushes while scores were killed and maimed leaving the entire community stenchy while he feared the break out of epidemic in the area in days to come.
Taking a cue from a recent statement made in a viral video by the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, where he alluded to the fact that the military already know the killers of 17 soldiers on a peace mission to Okuama, Mayor Akpodoro described the statement as plausible and handy to which he said is an elixir to critical stakeholders who prayed for the assailants to be be identified by the military to end the reign of bloodletting in the area.
According to the Mayor, it’s time for the military to withdraw its troops from the troubled areas to enable help to reach the victims of the reprisal attack saying the people are in dire need of relief materials.
“Our people are dying in their large numbers. The army said they know the killers of the 17 soldiers. The proper thing to do is for the military to sustain the manhunt for the criminal elements who killed the 17 officers, and allow peace to return to Okuama. The people have to return to their village to pick up pieces of their lives.
“The innocents deserve to live, they deserve care and love and these are their fundamental human rights. Governments at all tiers should roll out relief materials for Okuama people. My solidarity goes for innocent ones who have no hands in the killing.
“The president should immediately withdraw his army of occupation from Okuama for my people to breath fresh air in peace while they go for the evil ones who won’t allow peace to reign. Indigenes of are already homeless as a result of the massacre meted out to them in reprisal attacks.
“The Delta state government should swing into action, rescue those trapped in the forests, rebuild their homes and let them return to their ancestral homes. Okuama people have no other place to call theirs and this underscores the reasons government should commence peace process. I call on the international communities, the Red Rross and Amnesty international to intervene in the plight of my people. They are suffering hopelessly.”
Mayor Akpodoro took a swipe on the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio who he noted overruled the Senator representing Delta central senatorial district, Ede Dafinone, in the red chamber when he moved a motion for the withdrawal of soldiers and sending relief materials to the innocents who were Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, in Okuama.
Akpodoro noted that Akpabio undoubtedly demonstrated his disdain for the innocent people of Okuama and by extention the entire Urhobo nation adding that, the Senate president’s lookwarm posture to the plight of Urhobo nation is not strange to the well-meanging people of Urhoboland noting that Akpabio overruled the Urhobo lawmaker because he does not see Niger Delta region beyond his constituents in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial district.
“We note the callous disposition of Senator Akpabio to the plight of our people and we aware that, to the self acclaimed common Senator, only his Akwa-Ibom North-West people are Nigerians. This fact is more prominent in Akpabio’s N9billion naira projects inserted in the 2024 national budget for his people at the detriment of the larger population. That 10th Senate is jinxed by Akpabio’s leadership but I do know that an end will come for his shenanigans soon,” the Mayor stated.
