Posted by By Samuel Oyadongha on
YENAGOA - TRAGEDY struck Tuesday in the coastal town of Oluasiri also known as Soku bordering Bayelsa and Rivers states when an Army Private shot dead his Commanding Officer and later committed suicide.
YENAGOA - TRAGEDY struck Tuesday in the coastal town of Oluasiri also known as Soku bordering Bayelsa and Rivers states when an Army Private shot dead his Commanding Officer and later committed suicide.
The tragic incident, Vanguard gathered, occurred at about 10:00am at the military base of the Joint Military Task Force code-named "Operation Restore Hope" guarding the Oluasiri Gas Gathering Plant in the Nembe Creek feeding the multibillion dollars LNG Plant in Bonny, Rivers State, with raw gas.
Oluasiri enclave is a coastal swamp rich in oil and gas lying on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean inhabited by the people of the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
The disputed area is called Oluasiri by the Nembe speaking Ijaw of Bayelsa State but is called Soku by the Kalabari Ijaw of Rivers State who are also laying claim to the oil and gas rich area.
Although details of the tragic incident were still sketchy at the time of filing in this report, it was however learnt that the Private, an Ijaw, shot dead his superior following an argument before taking his own life with the same rifle he used in terminating the life of the officer, a Lieutenant.
According to sources from the oil facility owned by the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the killed officer was said to have made uncomplimentary remarks about the Private's kinsmen.
It was learnt that the Private was incensed by the derogatory remarks to the extent that he lost his cool and jettisoned his military discipline by picking up his gun and opened fire on his boss at close range killing him on the spot.
But before other soldiers could recover from the shock and disarm him, he took his own life by committing suicide with the same rifle.
A Shell Petroleum Development Company staff at Soku in the Nembe Creek who witnessed the incident told this reporter that the tragic shooting may just be the beginning of terrible things to come in the troubled Niger Delta.
When contacted on phone, the spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force, "Operation Restore Hope" based in Warri, Delta State, Major Siad Hammed confirmed the incident but was quick to say the report at his disposal was still hazy.