(Photo of Okuama residents living in the bush/ Photo Credit: Vanguard).
An elderly woman from Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State has narrated how the Army helped her to escape when they attacked the community.
The military had reportedly stormed Okuama following the killing of the 17 soldiers in the community on March 14. The Nigerian Army had denied people access into the community, as they said that they were trying to prevent people from interfering with the investigation.
Some residents of the community have claimed that several people were killed and houses burnt down in the community. It was also gathered that some residents, including children and old women, are still hiding in the bushes without access to food and water.
According to the report by Vanguard on Wednesday, while speaking to public enlightenment officers at Okwagbe in Ughelli South, a woman from the community said that when the crisis started, the soldiers helped rescue her from the community because of her age.
The woman who is in her 100s said that her daughter was not in the house when the issue began, and that the soldiers caught her on her way, and she told them that she was going to see her aged mother.
She said that the soldiers brought her daughter to her, and when they saw her, they asked them to leave Okuama.
She said, “My daughter, Mary, was not at home when the crisis started. Soldiers held her on her way to see me in the house. When she told the soldiers that she was coming to see me, her elderly mother, they brought her personally to me. After seeing me, they asked us to leave Okuama immediately.”
According to the report, the Defence Headquarters has constituted a Board of Inquiry to probe the killing of the 17 soldiers on March 14.
The Chairman of the Board, Air Vice Marshall David Ajayi said that the panel is aimed at gathering facts about the incident.
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