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The Nigerian Army has remained silent on the death of two leaders from the Okuama community, Delta State.
Okuama’s President-General, Pa James Oghoroko, and the 81-year-old community’s treasurer, Dennis Okugbaye, died in army’s custody within six days intervals.
Both Oghoroko and Okugbaye were reportedly detained by the military alongside four others — Prof. Arthur Ekpekpo, Chief Belvis Adogbo, Mrs Mabel Owhemu, and Mr Dennis Malaka — during a military operation between August 18 and 20, 2024.
The arrests occurred months after 17 soldiers on a peace mission to resolve a dispute between Okuama and the neighbouring Okoloba community were killed on March 14, 2024.
The deaths of the two leaders in military detention have triggered outrage within Okuama, as youths and women in the community had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army to release the detained leaders and return Pa Oghoroko’s body.
The ultimatum shows the anger and grief of the community, which accuses the military of violating the rights of their leaders.
However, attempts to get official statement on the community leaders’ death from the military have been unsuccessful.
When contacted, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, directed inquiries to the Army Headquarters.
He said, ‘’Kindly channel this question to the spokespersons for the army, please.”
However, repeated calls to the Director of Army Public Relations, Maj. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, were unanswered, and he has yet to reply to a message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.
