Soldiers Massacre: Do Not Give Soft Landing To These Barbaric Murderers – CSOs Warn Akpabio

Civil Society Organizations, (CSOs) and a security expert have berated the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, for stating that the gruesome murder of 16 military men in Delta State might be connected to foreign mercenaries.

Naija News earlier reported that Akpabio had claimed that those responsible for the massacre of the 16 officers and men of the 181 Amphibious Battalion at Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta are not from Niger Delta.

The lawmaker stated this on Tuesday during plenary when the Senate resolved to set up a committee to unmask the circumstances behind the military personnel’s killings.

“I don’t want to conclude that these people are from Niger Delta because we respect men and women in uniform. That’s why I’m saying that your additional prayer should be to carry out a thorough investigation to know whether they were mercenaries outside Nigeria, who came in to commit this crime because I don’t think these people are from Niger Delta,” Akpabio said

Reacting to Akpabio’s claims, the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Transparency International-Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, warned Akpabio not to give a soft landing to the perpetrators of the crime.

He insisted that a criminal remains a criminal irrespective of where they come from.

“A criminal is a criminal irrespective of where he or she comes from. So, to support or to give a kind of soft landing to people who have carried out this barbaric and murder against serving security officials, is condemnable,” Rafsanjani said.

On his part, the Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Gad Peter, said political leaders should be careful about their comments “after incidents or crimes have taken place.”

“For Akpabio to say the people that killed those soldiers are foreigners means that he has information. So, he should provide the details of which nation invaded our country so that we can go to war with them for killing our soldiers,” he said