Nigeria’s senate president, Godswill Akpabio, has suggested those responsible for the brutal killings of men of the Nigerian armed forces in a community in a delta state may be foreign mercenaries instead of locals as widely believed.
Senator Akpabio made the call when he presided over plenary session on Tuesday, March 19th, 2024. The senate were debating a merged bill brought by senators Abdulaziz Yar’adua of Katsina central and Edeh Dafione of Delta central calling for relief and assistance to victims of the attack but the senate president cautioned against what he perceived as a rush to judgement.
He said “I don’t want you to conclude. I don’t believe these people are from the Niger Delta – those who did the killings. With respect to men and women in uniform, that I why I am saying that your additional prayers should actually be ‘to carry out a thorough investigation to know whether these people were mercenaries from outside Niger Delta who came to commit,” he said.
“I don’t think these people are Niger Deltans. We are not at war. Even in a period of war [you do not] lose such number of personnel. No community will go to the extent of doing this kind of thing. I don’t think they are from Niger Delta.”
