The House of Representatives Committee on Defence on Thursday commenced its investigative hearing into the killing of 17 military personnel and the wanton destruction of Okuama community of Ewu Kingdom in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Although not many turned up for the investigative hearing physically, it was learnt that interest parties including indigenes of Okuama community and other interested groups presented copies of memoranda to the committee at the hearing.
The investigative hearing was held at the Government House Annex, Edjeba, in Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
Recall that on March 14, 17 military personnel including the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, two majors and one captain were gruesomely murdered around the river bank of Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area in Delta State.
The military in a reprisal attack razed and destroyed every property in the community including church buildings, and with civilians allegedly killed by the soldiers over the killing of their colleagues.
However, the House of Representatives at its sitting of March 19, 2024, following a resolution, mandated the House Committee on Defence to investigate the remote causes of the incident.
Speaking with journalists just before leaving the venue of the public hearing, the chairman of House Committee on Defence, Rep Babajimi Benson, assured that the committee would be fair and just in its assignment to the country.
Hon. Benson, flanked by members of the committee including the member representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu Federal Constituency, Hon. Francis Waive, disclosed that the committee had received several memoranda from the people of the area on the incident.
He said the committee would continue to receive petitions and presentations from members of the public, particularly residents of Okuama until next Friday in its bid to find the true causes of the incident that led to the murder of the soldiers.
According to him, “We’ve received a lot of memorandum from them but they have not turned up physically. We intend to work with that memorandum, it’s extensive and the window is open for a week, so we are still expecting a lot more memorandum.
“We’ve assured you all, we have assured the Governor that we have the House of Representatives full backing to ensure that this matter, we review both sides and will come to a logical conclusion and we put a closure to it.
“That’s why we are asking them to send in a memorandum and they’ve complied with that. We’ve also given a week. The memorandum receipt will end Friday next week.
“We are also telling them if you don’t want to show up, please send us documents that we would be able to act on so we can come to a logical conclusion. Ours is to look at both sides and be able to reduce an upper recommendation so that no party is embarrassed or victimized.
“They are going to submit it to the clerk and from there we will treat it. If there is any reason for us to visit or do otherwise, we are ready. We’ve dedicated our time to ensuring that justice is done and justice is also seen to be done.
“And to also ensure that this matter is brought to a logical conclusion whereby the people can easily go back to their source of livelihood and to their various homes and also foster a building process so that that place would be better now than they left it.”
While speaking on why the committee had not visited Okuama to personally see things for themselves, Hon. Benson noted, “We need to first be fully armed with what is going on. That is why we are soliciting for memoranda. We’ve gotten a couple. The activity of the committee has not ended.
“We are still going to visit the locals in quote, we are still going to invite the military to give us an account of what happened, that is why we said we are going to listen to both sides of the divide. We definitely have to visit the locals but we need to be armed with information from the people where the carnage took place. It is after that we will visit the locals.”
Amongst those who submitted memoranda to the committee are groups including the influential Urhobo Renaissance Society (URS), Urhobo Media and Advocacy Group (UMPAG) and Chief Victor Otomewo Esq.
