Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 General Election and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore have condemned the killing of Police and Army Officers on duties in Delta State.
The duo who expressed their condemnation over the gruesome massacre of the officers via their personal X handles on Sunday, demanded an impartial investigation into the matter to bring the perpetrators to justice.
TheFact Daily had reported an alleged killing of 19 policemen in Ughelli town, in Delta State, before, this recent killing of 16 army officers, including the Commanding Officer, two Majors, one Captain and 12 soldiers.
Mr. Peter who described the killing as barbaric and totally unacceptable, added that such an act should not be tolerated by Nigerians and any sane society.
He said, “in both sad incidents, the dead security personnel were on active duties of securing and keeping peace within our communities, state and country before their unfortunate end, even by the people they were trying to help”.
The former governor of Anambra State said, “for a nation already combatting a high level of insecurity, the killing of our security personnel who put their lives on the line for the security of the nation will be too much of a burden to bear”.
He noted: “These sad occurrences and many cases of killing, kidnappings and violent crimes around the country, have continued to fuel very deep concerns over the security of the nation.
“These security operatives are making a lot of sacrifices in their line of duty, and in some cases pay the supreme price.
“We must therefore appreciate and value them by showing empathy towards them and ensuring healthcare for those who are wounded”, he said
While advocating adequate compensation and welfare packages for the families of those who died in active service, Obi condoled with the families of the security personnel that died, and their security formations (Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force respectively) over the sad loss of their personnel.
He encouraged them not to be dispirited by the ugly developments, but see it as a challenge to increase their efforts in their duties.
He urged the government and the security agencies to leave no stone unturned in investigating, arresting and prosecuting those behind the ugly acts.
On his part, Omoyele Sowore said, while the attack of Nigerian security forces remains condemnable and unacceptable, no security agency/ies should engage in jungle justice.
He, therefore, called on the Nigerian authorities to allow an impartial investigation involving international human rights organizations into the crisis to bring those guilty to justice.
He advised the Nigerian Army to restrain its officers and ensure that the rights of innocent civilians are not breached carelessly as it had always done in similar cases.
