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A former Director of the Department of State Services, DSS, Mike Ejiofor, has demanded an independent probe of the killing of 17 military personnel in Okuama community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, stating that an objective inquiry will incriminate some very important personalities.
Making the demands during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Thursday, Ejiofor wondered why a lieutenant colonel, two majors, one captain and 13 other military personnel would be deployed to settle a land dispute.
The former Director urged the Federal Government to set up a “high-powered, independent investigation” to explain the reasons behind the deployment of 17 military personnel including the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion on a peace-keeping mission to the communities engaged in a land dispute.
“The federal or state government should set up this or harmonise: the state government brings representatives, the federal government brings representatives to form a very high-powered, independent investigation that will come up with an objective report of what happened because as it is now, people are scampering, some people that might be indicted in this investigation, because a lieutenant colonel, two majors cannot on their own just move out on a peace-keeping mission in a community.
“There is so much to this incident that must be found out.
“The military is a party interested; they cannot undertake such an investigation.
“By now, the Federal Government or the state government must have set up an investigative panel to look into this matter because time is running out.
”We need to get to the root of this matter to know what really happened,” he said.
Ejiofor added that for future operations, the military should involve the Police and DSS operatives in such civilian assignments.
He said, “If there is a peacekeeping, two parties must be involved; people from the two communities must be involved and a neutral ground will be taken, possibly the local government headquarters, if you are talking of peace initiative.
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