Military fixes Wednesday for burial of soldiers killed in Okuama

The Nigerian Army has announced that the burial of the 17 soldiers killed in Okuama community in Delta State will be held today at the National Cemetery, Abuja.

The Army disclosed this via a statement on its verified X handle, @HQNigerianArmy, noting that the burial ceremony will take place by 3pm.

President Bola Tinubu will be the Special Guest of Honour at the event.

Recall that the slain military personnel were killed by angry youths during a communal clash over a land dispute in Bomadi and Okuama communities in the state.

The personnel attached to the 181 Amphibious Battalion were responding to a distress call when they were ambushed and killed.

READ ALSO: Akpabio says killers of Army personnel in Delta may be mercenaries

Sequel to the killing, there were reports that the military was planning a reprisal on the communities involved.

The Defence headquarters had denied the allegation and slammed the community, noting that no amount of propaganda would stop culprits from being nabbed.

Whereas, the Defence Headquarters had vowed that there would be injurious consequences for the killing

It also released the names of the Army personnel who were killed during a peace mission to Okuama.

Tinubu and the Senate, however, had ordered the military to apprehend the killers of the military men.

In executing this order, the military on Sunday combed the communities and arrested a lot of persons, including three prime suspects, as the President declared that the Defence Headquarters and the Defence Chief had full authority to bring anybody responsible to justice.

The people had appealed to Tinubu to allow them  to come back to their communities as the military had allegedly burnt and killed many people therein, making the people to flee to neighbouring communities in search of safety.

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