A retired Army Major General, Cecil Esekhaigbe, has revealed that the 16 military personnel who were brutally killed last Thursday in the Okuama community of Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State were ambushed by residents of the community while on a peacekeeping mission.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, Maj. Gen. Esekhaigbe stated that the personnel were on a peacekeeping mission to find out why some soldiers sent earlier were held hostage.
He further stated that if the soldiers had been prepared to fight when they went to Okuama, none of them would have been killed.
His words: “We must understand that the mindset of these men was not to go and fight but for a peacekeeping mission, and to find out why the soldiers sent earlier were held hostage. Their mentality was not to go for an attack. If they were going for an attack, even as few as they were, you wouldn’t be able to surround them and dastardly murder them as they did.
What happened was that they fell into an ambush, and of course, these militia groups have sophisticated weapons. At that level, when you’re ambushed, no matter how sophisticated you are, you will fall. Of course, this calls for the need for training and retraining because you must know the local areas in which you’re operating.”
He also dismissed reports that the Nigerian army would carry out a reprisal attack on the community; rather, the army is there to cordon off the place and retrieve their lost weapons. “The Nigerian army is a professional outfit, and there are rules of engagement,” he added.
