Delta soldiers attack premeditated - CDS Musa

General Christopher Gabwin Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff, has asserted that the deaths of 16 military officers in Delta State were premeditated.

CDS Musa conveyed this during his interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, April 3, 2023.

He said, "The attack was premeditated just because there are groups of criminals, cultists, militants (sic) just because they make a lot of money from crude oil theft believe they are above board. They did this deliberately just because the commanding officer and his team were ensuring that any act of pipeline vandalisation, crude oil theft, illegal refineries were completely eradicated from that region."

Pulse.ng earlier reported that the incident occurred in the Okuoma community, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State, which was fraught with tension after the killing of the officers from the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army.

These officers were reported to have responded to a distress call following a communal conflict between Okuama and Okoloba communities on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

The situation escalated when the youths surrounded the military personnel.

Musa said that the military could have erased Delta State’s Okuama community in retaliation for attacks on its men.

He also debunked claims that the slain military personnel stormed the community fully armed.

Musa said, “I have heard comments about what were they (the murdered soldiers) doing? [sic] Once we are deployed on operation, we have the right and mandate to arrest all acts of criminality within that area. So they were there legally and they were doing a legal operation. It was because the commanding officer felt that the threat was not that high, that was why he felt he could discuss with these individuals. He did not go armed.

“That gallant officer, if he had gone armed, he would [have] erased everybody in that place. He felt that these were people he knew; these were Nigerians he could talk to. When he went to talk to them with his team, they were rounded up and shot. Their body parts were cut, their hearts were removed, and I think that that is one thing all Nigerians should stand against."

CDS Musa fumes at Urhobo leaders

He further alleged that the traditional leaders withhold information, emphasising that they cannot claim ignorance regarding the attack.

The four star general said, “I have heard what the Urhobo leaders have said, and I respect the elders, but I want them to speak from the position of strength. They cannot say that they do not know what was going on there. Since they decapitated the bodies, there’s a lot of human sacrifices going on in those general areas.

“It was part of them showing that they had strength. That was why they cut the hands, disembowelled them, removed the hearts and all of that. I don’t know what that was for. What was their intent?”