Update: Military Makes Arrests In Odagwa

● Pick Chief of Staff to the Etche Local Government Council as Asobiri’s body is deposited at the morgue

By PHC Telegraph

An undisclosed number of suspects alleged to be members of a cartel that is engaged in illegal bunkering activities at Odagwa, an oil bearing community in Etcheland have been arrested.

They are being held in custody by the Nigerian Army, following a raid conducted by soldiers stationed in the Niger Delta who are charged with safeguarding oil pipelines and bringing oil theft to an end.

Also in the custody of the Army which came under attack on Friday at Odagwa by gun-toddling youths is the Chief of Staff to the  Chairman of the Etche Local Government Council.

Odagwa had been very tense on Friday as illegal bunkerers decided to bear arms in order to defend their operations which is affecting the activities and their supporters shot at men of the Nigerian Army.

Around the community market square where the sound of gunfire was loudest, the road was blocked with condemned vehicle tyres.

Those tyres used to cross the road which were set ablaze were intended  to prevent soldiers on legitimate duty from leaving the community with impounded vehicles and petroleum products

We have learnt through credible sources, including eyewitnesses, that the Captain who led the operation was hit on the left arm by a bullet allegedly fired by the suspects.

Another soldier was shot in the back. Both men are receiving treatment at the military hospital in Port Harcourt. Our information suggest that they are in stable condition.

Mission To Apprehend The Suspects: 

Another Captain, our sources confirm, was ordered to proceed to Odagwa to effect the arrest of those who had dared in open broad daylight to attack a contingent of Nigerian soldiers on legitimate duty.

The convoy of military trucks headed in the direction of Etche. Inside the vehicles were grim-faced soldiers with clear instructions to apprehend suspected oil thieves at the oil settlement.

Moments later, the soldiers arrived Odagwa. According to what we have pieced together, they were ready if need be, to forcefully remove any obstacle standing between them and the immediate arrest of members of the armed gang.

For about two hours, between 6.30pm and eight in the night of Friday, sporadic gunfire could be heard as soldiers combed for those who had earlier fired at military personnel on assignment.

We cannot confirm if Prosper Asobiri was among those who hurled stones at, or picked up weapons against the military.

Whatever it was Asobiri also known as ‘Asari’ was not that lucky. He got into the line of fire and was instantly killed, his corpse left on the ground where it had fallen after being hit by a bullet.

His body has since been deposited at the morgue after a report was formally filed at the Okehi Divisional Police Office.

Saturday, a detachment of the military acting on a tip off surrounded the home of the Chief of Staff to the Council Chairman of the Etche Local Government, got into the building and summarily arrested him.

Incidentally, there are claims that the Chief of Staff may have been behind the attack of soldiers.

There is however no proof in the open of his direct involvement in the Odagwa saga.

Before now, the said Chief of Staff has been accused by supporters of Governor Fubara in the Etche Local Government Area of maliciously destroying arrangements made for a thanksgiving service at Afara after the Supreme Court victory.

Those currently under custody are being interrogated by the military which launched its own investigation as soon as arrests were made.

If the alleged suspects are eventually found culpable by their interrogators, they will be handed over to the police for prosecution.