Tensions escalated in Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta state as residents reported that men in army uniform ransacked and set fire to homes in retaliation for the killing of 16 soldiers by local youths. However, the defence chief refuted claims of military involvement, adding complexity to an already volatile situation.<\/p>\n
According to residents, the riverside community of Okuoma, home to a few hundred people, bore the brunt of the alleged military reprisal on Sunday. Tam Oburumu, a resident who fled his home, described scenes of uniformed men scouring the area for weapons, ransacking houses, and then setting them ablaze. The devastation left behind was extensive, with numerous homes destroyed in the wake of the attack.<\/p>\n
Despite the widespread destruction, government-owned properties such as a primary school and hospital were reportedly spared from the assault, raising questions about the motives behind the targeted violence.<\/p>\n
President Bola Tinubu condemned the killing of the soldiers as an “unconscionable crime against the Nigerian people” and authorized the military to apprehend those responsible. However, Defence Chief General Christopher Musa refuted claims of army reprisals, asserting that their focus remained on apprehending the perpetrators and locating their weapon cache.<\/p>\n
The situation has left residents like Friday Addy, a trader from Okuoma, feeling helpless as they flee for their safety, with many loved ones unaccounted for in the chaos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tensions escalated in Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta state as residents reported that men in army uniform ransacked and set fire to homes in retaliation for the killing of 16 soldiers by local youths. However, the defence chief refuted claims of military involvement, adding complexity to an already volatile situation. According to residents, the riverside community of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":23568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[716],"class_list":["post-23565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-and-security","tag-nigeria-military"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23565"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23582,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565\/revisions\/23582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}