Okuama Killings: How the Army Invaded My Country Home – Clark

Chief Edwin Clark, an elder statesman and former federal commissioner of information, revealed yesterday that military personnel invaded and ransacked his country home in Delta State last Saturday, claiming they were looking for the community chairman of Okuoma Community, where 17 military personnel were recently killed.

Clark claimed that the soldiers, who arrived in roughly five laden trucks, also attacked the home of his late brother, Ambassador Akporode Blessing Clark, who was Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Do you recall the recent ambush in Okuama town of Delta State’s Ughelli South local government area, resulting in the death of 17 soldiers and sparking national outrage?

Subsequently, the military initiated a manhunt to apprehend the perpetrators, heightening tensions in the area.

However, the elder statesman, who was in Abuja at the time of the invasion, claimed that the Army assaulted his rural residence by land and air, breaking into his tightly locked property.

He claimed that the troops hauled out his late brother’s son, who was taking a bath, as well as workers living in the buildings, including university lecturers, and forced them to sit on the ground.

The Niger Delta leader did, however, remark that the commanding commander of the Nigerian Army Division in Port Harcourt contacted him to inform him of the soldiers’ actions and apologized on the Army’s behalf.

While he accepted the military’s apology, he strongly denounced the killing of the 17 troops and urged the arrest of those responsible.

Clark condemned the soldiers’ killings as cruel and said they should not be tolerated.

At a press conference in Abuja, Clark stated, “At approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, 2024, I received a phone call from someone identifying himself as the commanding officer of the Nigerian Army, Division in Port Harcourt.”

• ATTENTION: Techrectory gives ₦5,000 monthly to our top readers, CLICK HERE to become a winner.

“He stated that a Nigerian Army tracker had tracked one Mr. Vote, the community chairman of Okuoma Community, whom the Army was looking for in relation to the killings of the 17 Nigerian Army men, to a house in Ughelli, and that the military men had broken into the house and ransacked it before being informed that the house belonged to me, and that he was very sorry and apologizing to me on behalf of the Army.

“In my typical manner and as a leader who is required to condone as much as possible, I accepted his apology wholeheartedly but informed him that I do not own a house in Ughelli and that the house he was referring to could be my father’s. I went on to sympathize with the Nigerian Army over the heinous murder of the soldier, which I had condemned repeatedly since hearing about it in the media. I assured him that we will all do everything in our power to provide the security agencies with any available information that will help them solve the case and bring the perpetrators to justice. We closed the conversation with a pleasant tone.

“Not long after, I was overwhelmed with calls from my home, Kiagbodo, informing me that the army had invaded my country by land and air. They arrived in around five vehicles, each carrying 30 to 40 armed soldiers. They broke into my house, using their legs to open all of the doors in the compound, including the security door to my living room, which was closed because I live in Abuja. At the same time, they are flying their drone on the grounds. Some of them went to the buildings behind the main home and burst through all of the closed doors. They matched my workers residing in those buildings, including lecturers at the university, and made them sit on the bare ground.

“They also broke into my late brother, Ambassador Akporode Blessing Clark’s house, a man who served this country internationally in a variety of capacities, including as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as we share the same premises. They invaded the house, dragging out his son almost naked as he was taking a bath.”

He also mentioned that all of their phones had been taken. The people had to identify themselves and tell them whose house it was before they asked for my phone number, which they stated they would give to their “oga” before they all left. One would have assumed that at this point, a call could have been made to the Delta State Governor to alert him of what had occurred.

“I immediately called back the commanding commander to inform him of the activities of his men. And he explained that he was aware, which is why he called to apologize.

Techrectory with Agency Report.