The Deputy President of the Senate in the 9th Assembly, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has called for a thorough and transparent probe of the reported death in military custody of the President General of Okuama development association, Pa James Achovwuko Oghoroko.
The late community leader had been in detention by the Army after his arrest alongside five other community leaders in August 2024.
The former Deputy President of the Senate represented Delta Central Senatorial District where Okuama community is located from 2015 to 2023. He decried the handling of the issue by the military, saying that its approach to the arrest and detention of the community leaders of Okuama without arraigning them in court is illegal.
“Pa James Achovwuko Oghoroko and the others are not soldiers, but civilians that ought to have been tried in a civil court. Failing to do so and this tragic development has cast a pall on democratic governance in Nigeria. Right now, the people in the area believe their leader was tortured, ultimately leading to his death. A thorough investigation by an independent body is imperative to dispel any inaccurate perception of the entire saga,” Senator Omo-Agege said.
In a press release issued by Sunny Areh, his Media Adviser, the former Deputy Senate President said despite the sad and regrettable killing of some military personnel at Okuama, due proces should be followed in handling the incident. He said that in a democratic society as Nigeria, the legal platform should be used to secure justice for all parties and maintain peace in the area.
He extended his condolences to the family of Pa James Achovwuko Oghoroko and urged the military to heal the ill will by immediately releasing the other five Okuama community leaders still in military detention.
Again, he commiserated with the military on the killing of 17 of its personnel by yet to be identified gun men. Omo-Agege said it is time, however, to deescalate the situation by letting democratic institutions handle the search for justice.