By Wilfred Eya
Elder statesman and leader, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark in this interview monitored on Arise TV, spoke on various issues including the March 14 killing of 16 officers and men of the 181 Amphibious Battalion at Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta.
Your take on the killing of Soldiers at Okuama in Ughelli Local Government Area of Delta State.
I am pained by the fact that this occurred barely two days after I spoke with the Commander Officer of 181 Batallion in connection with the preparations for the burial of my younger brother, Colonel Bernard Clark (retired), who was buried just on Friday, March 15, 2024.
I am indeed very, very, very sad that we should lose such people. At a time, even in the Boko Haram war, we have never lost soldiers like that. We all support Mr. President when he said the people should be looked for. And these satellite Urhobo towns along the Forcados, River Niger, and the Ijaws villages and communities, I’ve known them for a very long time. Okuama is between Akugbene town and Okoloba town.
About 82 years ago, when I was in standard two, I attended the same school with boys from Okuama, boys from Okoloba, and boys from Akugbene. I knew the area very well. I am really, really sad that this should happen.
Historically, they are the same ancestors. There was our ancestor called Mayi. I am a Mayi descendant who has children, who left Ogobi in Bayelsa State and settled along the Forcados River, most of the towns and villages along the Forcados River were Mayi children.
There was the Kaladaman who was the most senior among them. Then you have Odeh, and he was the founder of Okoloba, and he was also the father of Egwu, with Gbarigolo, Okuama, Frukama, Amasoma, they are all descendants of Mayi.
But when two persons live side by side, whether they are brothers or they are not, they are bound to have differences over land. So they have been having these cases for the past 50 years or 80 years. Nobody has gone to the extent of carrying out such type of heinous, wicked action.
I am indeed very, very sorry that this should happen. But we have a duty, not to allow this to escalate. We must all put our heads together.
I was very happy when I listened to the Governor of Delta State, of his involvement in this matter.
What best can you say to the military at this point in time in going about getting these people without getting more collateral damage within these peaceful communities?
Well, my appeal to our gallant soldiers is that they should be calm, cool temper, they should act maturely and not to take the law into their own hands. I know they are provoked, we are all provoked. But that’s not enough.
There are innocent children, pregnant women everywhere. So as far as I am concerned, we should appeal to the military to take it easy. They have all the modern technology. They should be able to fish out very soon those who committed this crime.
It is not against the ordinary citizens. They should, one would be angry that such a thing did happen in a place. So one would not blame the army so much for whatever that must have happened. It’s all collateral damage.
What I’m saying is enough is enough, the military should sit back, we are all Nigerians. And those who must have been responsible for this, they are not many.
Whoever hired them, wherever they come from, they should be fished out. That should be the main thing and we must all, I think Nigeria, should observe the death of these gallant soldiers by declaring a day for them with half-masks all over the country; officers and soldiers, innocent men who went for peaceful settlement of a matter.
We appeal to the military to take it easy that their own people were killed, these are some of the things they expect to encounter. They did not die at war front. They were killed in cold blood.
As far as I am concerned, I will appeal to Mr. President, who is the commander in chief, also to appeal to the soldiers to take it easy while looking for the people who committed this heinous crime.
I am sure the Nigerian military is actually listening to you and they will take advice from a great elder statesman like yourself. What do you make of insinuations that these killers may not be from the Niger Delta, likely to be foreign mercenaries, almost giving the insinuations that this must have been orchestrated, the killing of these soldiers?
Well, that is difficult to believe. I do not think we should extend these things. Let us look at ourselves. I said I spoke to the Lieutenant Colonel on Thursday and he went to the place on Thursday and died.
Well, except they had the express information that they were going to visit Kubama, nobody knew that they were going there. For people to come from outside, to waylay them, to surround them, is a matter we should investigate. We can’t rule anything out, but at the same time, let’s look at ourselves.
The leaders of the various communities must be brought together. Find out from them. Nobody should be treated as a sacred cow. We are one. I am an Ijaw man, I’m an Urhobo man. And I will be the last person to allow this type of matter to generate into a situation whereby we have inter- communal fracas or fights.
These three communities have been in court. Over the years, they win, they lose, they live together, they inter marry. So if two men or two persons from the two communities are fighting over land, the governor should look into that matter, bring the people and ask them questions. That is why I said nobody will be treated as a sacred cow. They must have leaders in both communities.
What are you getting, what’s the vibe you’re getting from the community leaders and the governor specifically, just even before the very brutal killings of these gallant soldiers?
On what matter, this very matter?
Yes, on this very matter, were there moves by the community leaders?
Before what happened, Okuama and Okoloban dispute was not known by many people. It’s just a matter between two communities and the governor said he waded into it. It was not known to many of us until this wicked event took place. So nobody knew about it, there was nothing we could do. As I said, they have always been in court, I’m aware of that. And they have been living together. They do things together and we were not aware that it was going to take a different turn.
There are matters to be investigated. Where did this even happen? Yeah, the military could find it out. Where were they waylaid? Where were they shot dead? We must know all these facts. We cannot be saying, did they die in the river or on the ground? These are issues to be discussed, to be investigated, that is the way I think about it.
In some quarters, many are questioning the propriety or otherwise of military involvement in resolving civilian issues like the land tussle conflict in the Okuama area. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is it okay for the military to intervene at such levels or is it something that should ordinarily be left to the police, as some have said?
Yes, we in Nigeria are people of double standard. We use the army. When we are using them, we don’t know that this is not their job. They are Nigerians. If they are told that such stuff is happening in the place and they went out to maintain peace, this is a matter for the police. But if they were not there, what would happen?
But this is not the time, my dear, to talk about whether the army should have done this or should have done that. This is not the time.
The same army has been used by everybody. Governors are not supposed to have military men in their houses.
People are not supposed to have military people in their houses. Everybody has the army. They are looking for their own safety, their own security.
When things are wrong, then you blame them. Why? This is not the time to talk about whether the army has done this or done that; whether it was their job, not because this is a clarion call to the police.
Let us examine our police. What are they doing? With all these happenings, we have never heard of any police action; these are matters government should look into,,
but just now, we are only involved in how to solve this wicked action by unpatriotic Nigerians.
We understand how pained this is to you knowing full well that you were also able to establish contact with at least two of these gallant officers just some hours before the unfortunate incident.
Yes, I did. Well, we must all sympathise with them. As the governor of Delta State mentioned, we all have a duty to support the families, to see that these people are given a befitting burial as Nigerians who died in active service; we should be friendly with them.
We should appeal to them, this is not the time to criticize the army, we have been using them wrongly or rightly.
I think as I told you earlier, these people are brothers and sisters. They have lived together for years, for thousands of years. They will settle their problem.
We should not bother about it. We should bother about who killed these boys. That is my own opinion. Let’s forget about the two communities, their dispute, and it will not escalate to another community. I assure you that.
We have been making investigations, we have been talking to the people.