Dr Chidi Lloyd, the chairman of Emohua Local Government in Rivers state, has mocked the Nigerian Army after soldiers were molested and dispossessed of two rifles and their uniforms by a vigilante group in the Rundele community.
Soldiers had on Sunday laid siege on the community, burning houses in a bid to recover the rifles.
However, normalcy returned on Monday following the recovery of the guns and uniforms snatched from the soldiers on oil assets protection duty in the area.
Confirming recovery of the seized rifles, Emohua LG boss Lloyd opined that the incident justified his observation that soldiers guarding oil assets in the area aid and abet the oil theft they are deployed to fight in the area.
He further alleged that the intimidated soldiers were disarmed over disagreement on sharing gratifications from oil thieves with the disbanded vigilantes group in the area.
“I’m ashamed that a civilian could disarm two Nigerian soldiers, collect their rifles, remove their uniforms, and these are people trained to protect the territorial integrity of this country”, Lloyd said Monday in a media update on the saga.
Gift Ajuru, a Commander of OSPAC, a disbanded vigilante gang in the area, led the manhandling of the two soldiers who had their guns seized and their uniforms removed fateful Saturday in the community.
Major Iweha Ikedichi, Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 6 Division Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, was yet to respond to the recovery of the rifles and uniforms at the time of filing this report.
