Former Editor of Guardian Newspaper and Niger Delta leader of thought, Abraham Ogbodo, has said that the ambush and murder of the troops from the 181 Amphibious Battalion is not connected to the communal crisis between Okuama and Okoloba, but instead connected to illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta.
During a Television interview today, the Urhobo indigene also said that the military should give investigators access into the Okuama community so that they can find out the reasons behind the attack that killed 16 soldiers.
Ogbodo said that although the narrative now was to blame the Okuama and Okoloba communities.
He said and i QUOTE “It is not true that a misunderstanding between an Urhobo community and an Ijaw community could actually bring that level of crisis, that level of tragedy that we witnessed, it is not true. END QUOTE
“It’s not about communal crisis. What level of communal crisis? The combined population of those communities will be less than 2,000 human beings. Where will they get the capacity to wreak that level of havoc?
“To deliver that degree of tragedy, where will they have the capacity? It’s not possible. It’s like a crime taking place in all these drug enclaves in Latin America, and you will be looking for something else other than drugs. There is no crime that happens in Niger Delta that does not have crude oil and the arising benefits, and how those arising benefits can be allocated,” he said.
Speaking further to the possibility that illegal oil bunkering was behind the attacks, he said, “What was actually compelling about a peace mission in that place that will require the strategic team going for a tactical mission? So, it shows that there are so many things underlying that we are not talking about.
