The Senator representing Delta South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Joel-Onowakpo Thomas has condemned the gruesome murder of 16 soldiers in Okuama Community, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Reacting to the needless death of Nigerian soldiers who were on a peace mission, Joel-Onowakpo in a statement, said it was a crisis taken too far.
Joel-Onowakpo, who is the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, commiserated with the military and the immediate families of the slain soldiers
While calling for a holistic investigation into the remote causes of the crisis that led to the unwarranted killing of innocent soldiers, he emphasized the need for the security agencies to go after the masterminds of the heinous crime.
Senator Joel-Onowakpo who also sympathized with the families of those who may have lost their loved ones as a result of the crisis, sued 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 masterminds to avoid the killing of innocent children and women of Okuama community who may not know those behind the dastardly act.
He, however, advised the people of Okuama community to join forces with the military to fish out the killers of the 16 gallant soldiers.
It would be recalled that there has been over some decades of land dispute between Okuama Community, Ughelli South Local Government Area and Okoloba Community in Bomadi Local Government Area both of Delta State.
The soldiers were believed to be on a peace mission in the community as a result of rising tension from the age-long land dispute before they were ambushed and murdered.
