…urges compensation for families of deceased victims

By Jimitota Onoyume 

Urhobo Historical Society, UHS, has condemned the continued detention of  Okuama indigenes arrested by the Nigerian army in relation to  last year’s incident where some soldiers were  killed and their remains allegedly dumped in a river.

In an open letter to President Bola Tinubu and the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori , by the UHS signed by the president Dr. Aruegodore Oyiborhoro and the Secretary Engr. Onoawarie Edevbie said it was improper for the army to take up the role of the police in the incident, adding that the continued  detention of those arrested without prosecution was a violation of their rights.

The statement  published in the Vanguard of January 3, 2025 , page 21 reads : “In April of 2024, on the occasion of the destruction of the Urhobo Community of Okuama, in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria by elements of the Nigerian Army, the Urhobo Historical Society (UHS), wrote to you, President Tinubu, and to you, Governor Oborevwor. In that missive, UHS condemned the violence and the destruction which elements of the Nigerian Army had visited on the community, and called on both the Federal and Delta State governments to take concrete and immediate steps to alleviate the pain and suffering of the displaced persons of the community. Because in light of subsequent developments, the message of the missive bears repeating, it is here incorporated by reference, and we highlight some of its contents for emphasis. 

“The specific demands which UHS made in April 2024, were as follows: An immediate end to all military operations in the area, and the return of the armed forces personnel to their barracks, with the Police put in charge of assuring public order, as required by the Laws and the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The provision of adequate shelters, to house all displaced persons whose homes were destroyed, sanitary facilities included.

“The provision of medical facilities to cater to the health needs of the inhabitants.

The provision of food items, clean drinking water, and clothing, sufficient to meet the needs of the displaced population.

The construction of school facilities to attend to the educational needs of the children of the area.

We are informed by press reports that, on behalf of the Republic, [you], President Tinubu, ha[d] announced a host of benefits for the surviving members of the families of the fallen soldiers, including paid housing, educational scholarships for their children, and monetary awards. Because the soldiers came to their demise while on active duty in the service of the country, we understand and accept the solicitude of the government towards the surviving members of their families, even as we question the purpose, the propriety, and the legitimacy of the mission on which they unfortunately lost their lives.

“Sadly, as of this writing, the speed with which the government has manifested its concern for the survivors of the deceased soldiers has not been demonstrated, in equal measure, towards the survivors of the deceased victims of the Okuama tragedy – persons who, the Urhobo Historical Society submits, are no less deserving of the solicitude of the Republic. Payments in the form of restitution, consequential and collateral damages to all who have suffered losses, including monetary compensation to those survivors who lost members of their families, sufficient to match the support and assistance provided to the families of the departed soldiers, must, in equity, be extended to all the families of the deceased victims of the army’s destruction of Okuama.

Payments to the community to compensate for the loss of public facilities, in order that she might, at a minimum, be made whole, must also be made.

We expect the two governments to attend to these demands with haste, not only because the social contract between the two and the Citizens of Nigeria and Delta State, the dispossessed and distressed inhabitants of Okuama included, whom both governments are sworn to serve and protect requires it, but because it is right and proper that both governments should do so. 

“This must be done, and the Urhobo Historical Society expects and has high hopes that both governments will attend to their responsibilities with the urgency that the facts and circumstances of the moment make imperative. Nothing less would do, because human lives are at severe risk, our fealty to our family – the Human Family – is on trial – and neglect, incompetence, and failure are most assuredly not options. No, not in this instance.

“In the period since April 2024, the Delta State Government has taken rather modest steps to provide some measure of assistance to the beleaguered community. We are well aware of the camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), which it has caused to be constructed in Eghwu Town, but, measured against the magnitude of a problem which demands action on a large and varied scale, informed by a bold vision and intentionality, and anchored to a calculated and deliberate strategy, the IDP initiative, with all the respect that is due, falls far short of the very pressing needs of the community. The Delta State Government has taken a small step in the right direction, but it must do more, much more.

“Sadly, the actions of the principal actor in this tragedy – the Nigerian Federal Government – has been spectacularly disappointing, and very grossly so. Because the Nigerian Army which that Government created and finances, and commands through the office of the President of the Nigerian Republic was and remains the instrument through which the tragedy of Okuama was and continues to be effected, that Government bears the primary and the most significant responsibility for attending to the human needs of the suffering and distressed people of Okuama.  But far from providing solace, it has compounded the suffering and the distress of a tortured people.  Yes, the Army withdrew its invading soldiers in response to the vocal condemnation of its actions by angry voices in Urhobo land and across the country.  

However, subsequent to that withdrawal, it has continued episodic punitive incursions into the community seemingly designed to harass and intimidate the population, and to “arrest” whomever it chooses, whenever it chooses.

“We know, through public reports, that among those arrested in August 2024 are Professor Arthur Ekpekpo, the President of Eghwu Clan Development Union, Pa. James Oghoroko, Pa.Dennis Okugbaye, Belvis Adogbo, Madame Mabel Owhemu, and Dennis Mataka. The word in early December 2024, was that Pa. James Oghoroko, an octogenarian, met his death while still in detention, in a military camp in Port Harcourt.

It should be clearly understood that these detainees were arrested and remain detained, in an unambiguous violation of: (1) the plain meaning of the relevant statutes and laws of the country; and (2) the plain language of the Nigerian Constitution.

” We are compelled to restate the obvious to wit: the Nigerian Army has no authority under the provisions of the laws and the commands of the Constitution of The Republic of Nigeria to exercise police powers in the country, save in very discrete circumstances, which are not here present. The continued detention of these individuals when no criminal charges have been preferred against them, is beyond question, an egregious violation of their fundamental rights as citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and as members of the human community, especially where, as here, they are detained not by the Nigeria Police, but by arrogant and lawless elements of the Nigerian Army. We demand, therefore, that their detention must end now, that they should be released post-haste, and that they should be financially compensated for their wrongful detention.

“More, we suspect, to sanitize its image than in an actual quest for the facts, the Nigerian Army, we are informed, has ordered an investigation into the death of one  of the detainees. But as we stated very clearly in our missive of April 2024, “… (UHS) demands that the Nigerian Government and the Government of Delta State jointly appoint an Independent Commission of Inquiry, composed of men and women of proven and publicly acclaimed independence and integrity, unconnected to either government, far removed from the military, endowed with the full authority to examine the tragedy, in all its dimensions, and submit its Report to both governments – which Report shall be simultaneously released to the public. 

“To reiterate the point, the Citizens of the Republic of Nigeria – the Sovereign in the Republic of Nigeria – in whose name the Nigerian State acts, and from whom the State derives its authority to act, have the right to know what actions were taken in this matter, why they were taken, on whose instruction, and at whose direction they were taken. The Urhobo Historical Society submits that constituting an Independent Commission of Inquiry with unfettered powers to examine [the Okuama] tragedy in its entirety, is the most likely path to uncovering and revealing the truth, and is the most likely to be salutary.”

“The idea that the Nigerian Army, the apparent culprit in this travesty, should appoint itself to investigate itself would be merely laughable were the matter at hand not so tragic. It is an idea offensive on its face, and one that cannot seriously be entrained – not if the real objectives are to determine the facts, and to do that which is right, proper and just.

“This is how we see it, and we await what we expect would be rational and comprehensive responses from the Government of Delta State, and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, directed at frontally and seriously addressing the devastation of the lives of the Urhobo People of Okuama, caused by the deliberate and calculated actions of elements of the Nigerian Army.

“In the end, at the heart of the matter is the brutalization of the Nigerians of Okuama by elements of the Nigerian Army – the very institution whose members have a duty to protect all Nigerians, including the residents of Okuama, from their external enemies. How sadly, sadly ironic that the brutalization of the Nigerians of Okuama has not been by the actions of an external enemy, but by the actions of their fellow countrymen whose sole obligation is to protect them from harm. How, how sadly ironic indeed.”