By Festus Ahon

RESIDENTS of Okurekpo, Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, have appealed to the Federal and the State Government to assist them in overcoming the trauma of the 2016 invasion of the community and killing of its indigenes by unknown gunmen dressed in army uniform.

Narrating the ordeal of the people, one of the indigenes who craved anonymity, said: “On 20 June 2016, some unknown persons came to the community in the afternoon and said that we should leave our community (Okurekpo) within three months, telling us that pipe-lines passed through it.

“On that day, the gunmen did not spend more than 30 minutes, if not we were even trying to call security agency to get them arrested, and after giving us the notice, they quickly disappeared with a Toyota Corolla car without a number plate.

“About three months later, they came back again at midnight with army uniform and guns and they opened fire on us when we were sleeping. It was the gunshots that woke some of us up and we started running for our dear lives.

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“Some of our people died and many others sustained a various degree of injuries and property worth millions of naira were destroy.

“Some of the elders of our community who escaped death with other youths ran to Isiokolo police division to report the matter and those that died were deposited in the morgue.

“We are reiterating our call on both the Federal and state government to come to our aid because we are still suffering from the effects of the loss during that attack.”
Vanguard