When on October 7, 2023, Hamas militants breached Gaza’s boundary with Israel and killed over 1,200 Israelis, mainly civilians, it sparked global sympathy for the Jewish state and corresponding scorn for Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu rode on the wings of the global outrage and vowed to avenge and decimate Hamas. The world understood his anger.
But Nathanyahu over did it. From hunting the militants, Israeli embarked on indiscriminate killing of Gazans, mainly civilians, women and children. The ongoing war on Gaza has so far cost over 33,000 Palestinians lives. So indiscriminate was the Israeli onslaught that just as quickly, the tide shifted away from Israel. The offensive was seen as an overkill and indiscriminate with little regard for the safety and well-being of civilians who bore the brunt of the killing game.
Just as Israel, the Nigerian Army had its Gaza moment of national sympathy when on March 14 this year, 17 of its officers and men were gruesomely murdered at Okuama by yet to be identified gunmen when, according to the statement by the Army high command, they had gone for a “peace keeping mission”. There was overwhelming national outrage over the bestial nature of the killing. Generally, Nigerians demanded that the perpetrators should be made to answer for their crime while some, not uncharacteristically, called for the levelling of Okuama.
As strange as the latter call was, it was not unknown in Nigeria. Odi, Umuechem and Zaki Biam are still fresh in national psyche where the military visited hailstorm on the communities for infractions bordering on alltacks on security operatives. The Army duly obliged. And as in the case of Israel’s reaction to the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the army copied from the Udi and Umuechem play book.
Having first condoned off Okuama, they made sure nobody gained entry into the community, including Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State and the chief security officer as designated by the Constitution when he visited on Monday, March 18, 2024.
Thankfully, the hard stance of the Army seem to have thawed when they eventually allowed Governor Oborevwori to enter the community. What emerged from Sunday’s visit through pictures and videos were sickening and predictable. Okuama had been completely reduced to ground zero. The rubble of the destroyed buildings were unmistakable. There was nobody for Oborevwori to address. All the inhabitants had evacuated the community and become part of the rapidly growing legion of internally displaced persons in Nigeria.
It took over six weeks since the killing of the soldiers for the military to allow access into the village.
It was a frustrating spectacle for Oborevwori who had invested a lot of efforts to avoid any dispute between Okuama and Okoloba, both oil producing communities. And both are also bastions of crude oil stealing dubiously called oil bunkering by the high and mighty. Despite dominating the media space with its “peace keeping mission” story, some groups with knowledge of the dynamics of “oil bunkering” have called for a wholesale investigation of the March 14 ill-fated mission and killings. The fact that a peace deal brokered by Oborevwori between Okuama and Okoloba had on February 7 been signed by their leaders raised eye brows on the issue. Again, until the killings, neither the Delta State Government, the Divisional Police Office or the Commissioner for Police in the area knew about the mission or got prior notification.
Although the military high command has set up a panel to investigate the incident, its composition is flawed. Its exclusively made up of serving officers of the armed forces with David Ajayi, an air vice marshall, as chairman. As a board of inquiry, its membership is supposed to encompass every stakeholder group, including the Delta State Government, leaders of both communities and civil society groups. This flaw may deny the board the credibility it should have to earn the cooperation and respect for its findings and report.
Mr. Mike Ejiofor, a former director of the Department State Services (DSS), pointed out that this may cast a dark pall on the panel in an interview with Channels Television.
“The federal or state government should be involved in the investigation. The state government ought to have its representatives in the board. Same applies to the federal government to form a very high-powered, independent investigation that will come up with an objective report of what happened, because as it is now, people are scampering, some people that might be indicted in this investigation will be comfortable with what we have now. A lieutenant colonel and two majors cannot on their own just move out on a peace-keeping mission into a community. There is so much to this incident that must be found out,” he stated.
“The military”, the retired DSS boss pointed out, “is an interested party, they cannot undertake such investigation. By now, the Federal Government or the state government must have set up an investigative panel to look into this matter because time is running. We need to get to the root of this matter to know what really happened,” he said.
Already, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Youth Wing as well as Urhobo Youth Leaders Association (UYLA) have warned that they will not cooperate with the board. “We will not participate in the Military Board of Inquiry investigating the tragic events of March 14 at Okuama, Ewu-Urhobo Kingdom, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, until specific conditions are met”, the groups stated in a joint statement. The conditions centre on the perceived lopsidedness of the panel.
“The Nigerian Army, being a party involved in the matter, cannot impartially conduct an investigation or adjudication. More so, when the Army has already taken a position by declaring eight persons wanted without inviting them for proper investigation. This fundamental principle of natural justice prohibits biased entities from presiding over cases where they have vested interests” they noted. They want responsibility for the investigation transferred to an independent body “capable of ensuring a fair and impartial process.”
Although the Delta State Government has pledged to make a presentation to the military panel, the high stakes of the saga may impact on the integrity of panel. The inquiry should not be an exercise exclusively for the military because their personnel were killed on March 14. Then we have learned nothing and the cycle of instability in the oil industry will continue.

Postscript
Gangsters in Govt House
You have to give it to Ahmed Usman Ododo, the man installed by Yaya Bello to succeed him as governor of Kogi State. They both pulled of a stunt Hollywood would have been proud of when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tried to arrest Bello over allegations of fraud and money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion.
On April 17, EFCC operatives had laid siege on Bello’s Abuja home after obtaining a warrant for his arrest. Bello had also obtained his own legal reprieve from the Kogi State high court barring the anti-graft agency from arresting him. The subsequent stand off was as hilarious as it was entertaining. Somehow, Ododo was allowed into Bello’s compound and got him extracted. As much the EFCC is touted to be an independent agency, could the move on a man who delivered his state to the ruling party have been made without a green light from “above”? I don’t think so.
Yet Ododo took Bello out in full glare of the EFCC. The reaction of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was no less hilarious. Bello’s security men, all armed policemen, were withdrawn by the IGP. Some people have wondered why the policemen were not asked to effect the arrest. That would denied us the entertainment in the saga. Now, Bello has been declared wanted. In effect, the Police has actually joined the EFCC in searching for the former governor.
Come on, Nollywood. Make the movie!