PANDEF, a group led by Chief Edwin Clark, said the killing was “totally unacceptable and must be fully investigated.”
The group also mourned the slain operatives and enjoined the Army and other security agencies not to be deterred by the latest tragedy.
“This dastardly act is unacceptable and must be fully investigated. There must be no sacred cows, the culprits must be brought to book as early as possible.
“PANDEF mourns the slain military personnel and commiserates with all the families and the entire Nigerian Army.
PANDEF further urges the Nigerian Army and other security personnel around the country to continue with their great national service and not to be deterred by this present sad development,” PANDEF said in a statement by Clark.
Youth groups in Urhobo and Ijaw – IYC Western Zone and UPU – also flayed the incident and called for a probe.
The IYC zone, said in a statement by its Chairman, Doubra Okotete; secretary, Omoghomi Olu-Derimon and Information Officer, Lugard Izuokumor, however, decried reports that Ijaw youths carried out the attack.
Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig.- Gen. Tukur Gusau, on Saturday accused youths of Okuoma of being behind the act.
Co-chairman of the Security Committee of UPU, Efe Kigho, described the incident as “not only a clear case of man’s inhumanity to man,” but “repugnant in all ramifications and condemnable.”
He said: “While the attack on military men is not and cannot be acceptable, the ongoing killing of innocent civilians and destruction of Okuoma community can never be justified.”
Kigho also enjoined the Federal and Delta State governments as well as all relevant authorities to “immediately intervene in the ongoing senseless and baseless butchery, carnage, massacre, slaughter and ensure the cessation of all forms of hostilities to enable our displaced innocent mothers and children The Urhobo Media Practitioners Advocacy Group (UMPAG) called for an independent panel of inquiry into the killings.
A statement by its Secretary, Theophilus Onojeghen and an executive member, Shedrack Onitsha, alleged “a grand conspiracy to twist the facts of the bizarre incident to paint one party as savages and adjudge another as saints.”
Commiserating with the military, federal and Delta state governments, UMPAG demanded an “independent investigation and arrest of the culprits.”
It said any panel mandated to probe the incident should unearth the “true mission” of the military personnel in the two communities.
AANI, which also called for the arrest of the killers, said their act “was an unforgivable affront to national values.’’
“AANI stands in solidarity with the military and the families of these heroes who paid the supreme price in the quest for peace in Delta,’’ its National President, Emmanuel Okafor, said.
