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How Soldiers Were Ambushed, Killed In Delta Community, Ex-General Speaks

Published

1 year ago

March 18, 2024

Editor

Major General Cecil Esekhaigbe (retd.) has revealed how 16 military personnel were murdered last Thursday in the Okuama community of Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.

Esekhaigbe stated that the unsuspecting soldiers were ambushed by residents of the community.

He disclosed this when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast show on Monday.

No fewer than 16 Nigerian soldiers were killed while on a mission to douse clashes between two communities in the South-South state of Delta on Thursday.

The Defence Headquarters said the personnel consisted of two Majors, one Captain, and 12 soldiers.

According to a statement by the Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau, the troops from the 181 Amphibious Battalion were deployed in the Bomadi region and were on a peace-keeping mission in the Okuoma community when they were killed on Thursday.

The killings have been condemned by many stakeholders with President Bola Tinubu vowing that the perpetrators will not go unpunished.

Reacting to the killings, Esekhaigbe said the soldiers were in the coastal community to find out why their colleagues who were on a peacekeeping mission to the village were held hostage and not to fight.

He added that the soldiers would not have been killed if they had been prepared.

He said, “It is unfortunate that we have spent a lot of money on a thing we called amnesty programme which was designed for those militia groups to lay down their weapons.

“If after the amnesty and the purported surrendering of weapons, we still have local communities that have sophisticated weapons like this, it calls for a re-examination of the entire process.

“Now, don’t forget you called it a peace mission, the mindset of these officers and men was to go and find out what the problems were and to find out why their men were kept behind. So, their mind was not to go and fight and that is what we must understand. So, they were not going with the mentality of going for an attack, if they, even as few as they were, they would not have been able to surround and dastardly murder them the way they did.

“So, what played out here is that they fell into an ambush because these militia groups have sophisticated weapons and when you are ambushed, no matter how sophisticated you are, you will definitely have the consequences of an ambush. That calls to mind the need for training and retraining because you must know the local environment in which you are operating.”

Speaking on the insecurity in the state, Esekhaigbe listed the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, drug abuse and lack of governance as contributory factors.

He, however, called for the rejig of the institutions rather than just renaming them.

“We have what we call institutional failure in all sectors. Let me tell you the contributory factors of this insecurity that is everywhere, one is the proliferation of small arms and light weapons all over the place.

“Two is the menace of drug abuse, and three is the lack of governance in this state. I heard they have small arms and light weapons centre domiciled in the NSA office. what are they bringing on board? You don’t domicile something and just be in an office like that. they are supposed to go out and retrieve these arms.

“We must rejig our institutions not just by giving them names and domiciling them somewhere. Two, what is the National Orientation Agency doing if not to re-orientate our psyche? This hatred and unnecessary and unwanted killing of people without any meaningful reason should be duly addressed.

“Three, some of these governors have humongous security votes. What do you do with this humongous security vote if the lives of your community are the community is continuously threatened and communal clashes abound everywhere without a meaningful response from the government? Let’s get serious.”

News

How Sound Sultan’s Death Affected My Music Career – Seyi Shay

Published

1 minute ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Seyi Shay has opened up about the impact of her mentor, Sound Sultan’s death on her career.

She revealed that after Sound Sultan passed away in 2021, she lost the zeal to continue music.

Shay further explained that she became pregnant with her daughter around the same period, which also encouraged her to embark on a break due to the “toxic” nature of the music industry.

“During the filming of Nigerian Idol, my mentor, also my best friend, who is like a father figure to me, and also the person who brought me to the Nigerian music industry, died. He passed away; Sound Sultan,” Seyi Shay recalls in an interview with TVC.

“When I first came to Nigeria, I was living with him and his wife in FESTAC for a year. He was the one who co-signed me and introduced me to everybody in the industry to make sure that those who were his people look out for me.

“So, when he passed away, it was really hard for me to complete the filming but I made it to the end. What hurt the most is that I didn’t get to see him before he passed away. I was supposed to fly to see him in New York that weekend when we had a break. He asked me to bring him something specifically. It just torn me apart. I felt like I didn’t have the will to continue to do music without Sound Sultan, my peace of mind, and my mental health. So, I decided to go on a little break.

“Also, during that period, I got pregnant and I told myself there’s no way I’m going to have my child in the toxic music industry that I’m in and under the scrutiny that I was constantly under. So, I just thought I should take a break.”

News

Ondo Govt Suspends Three Senior Officials Over Recruitment Scam

Published

36 minutes ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Ondo State Government has suspended three senior officials for their alleged involvement in a recruitment scam tied to the recent employment of teachers in the state.

The affected officials, two directors and a deputy director, were suspended on the directive of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, pending the conclusion of an ongoing investigation into the job racketeering scandal.

Reports indicated that the officials allegedly collected between N500,000 and N700,000 from unsuspecting applicants, depending on their academic qualifications, in exchange for fraudulent appointment letters.

The matter came to public attention after several individuals staged a protest over their exclusion from the ongoing biometric verification exercise for newly recruited teachers. Investigations later revealed that many of the protesters had presented forged appointment documents.

In a statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, the government clarified that the aggrieved protesters were not among the over 2,000 teachers legitimately recruited and already deployed across the state.

Adeniyan disclosed that internal investigations confirmed that the three officials at the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, had colluded with external collaborators to issue counterfeit appointment and posting letters to unsuspecting applicants in exchange for money.

“The attention of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been drawn to reports of a protest by individuals claiming they were unjustly excluded from the SUBEB recruitment process.

“To be clear, those protesters were not genuine employees but victims of fraud who were issued fake letters after paying money to scammers. They were exposed during biometric verification and informed that their documents were invalid.

“Disciplinary action has already been taken against the three SUBEB insiders found to have conspired with outsiders in defrauding applicants,” Adeniyan stated.

News

Unjust To Demand More Tax From Nigerians Amid Waste, Corruption — Moghalu

Published

36 minutes ago

September 15, 2025

Editor

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has described as unfair the demand for more taxes from Nigerians amid the profligacy and corruption by leaders.

Moghalu questioned how oil revenues and billions of dollars in borrowed funds had been spent, stressing that accountability must precede any fresh tax demands.

In a post on X on Sunday, the former CBN governor described Nigeria’s political class as “self-entitled elites” who lack transparency.

While acknowledging that tax reforms are broadly in the right direction, Moghalu insisted that without addressing corruption and waste in governance, the burden on ordinary Nigerians would remain unjust.

He said: “The profligacy and corruption in what passes for governance in our country, Nigeria, makes it unfair to expect citizens to pay any additional taxes. While taxes are an important part of the social contract, the question must first be asked: what have the revenues from oil and the numerous loans we have borrowed been spent on?

“Accountability is a core principle of governance. It does not exist with our self-entitled political elites. While the tax reform laws are broadly in a good direction, the core questions of accountability and transparency must be addressed. They haven’t.”