At least three of the suspects who killed 17 officers and men of 181 Amphibious Battalion, Nigerian Army, Otuama, Delta State, last Thursday, have been arrested.
The arrest came as the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said yesterday that whoever was responsible for the killing of the military personnel, would be brought to justice.
He spoke on a day the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, briefed President Bola Tinubu on the issue at Aso Rock, Abuja, saying the state is managing the tension caused by the killing and that there won’t be further attacks.
This is even as the House of Representatives yesterday mandated the Armed Forces of Nigeria to conduct a thorough and wholesome investigation into the circumstances that led to the gruesome killings of military personnel.
It was however gathered that the suspects were arrested in Port Harcourt yesterday and moved to Army headquarters, Asaba, where they are currently being held.
Meanwhile, speaking during the debate on two merged motions by Senators Abdulaziz Yar’Adua (APC, Katsina Central) and Ede Dafinone (APC, Delta Central), on the killings, Senator Akpabio said: “I don’t want you to conclude, I do not believe that these people are from Niger Delta.
“Because we respect men and women in uniform, I am saying your additional prayer should be to carry out a thorough investigation to know whether these people are mercenaries from outside Niger Delta who came to commit this crime because I don’t think these people are Niger Deltans.
“We are not at war to lose such several personnel. No community will go to the extent of doing this kind of thing. I don’t think they are from Niger Delta.
“So, I think the first point is that we should first establish the culprits who committed this crime and we must take this seriously. Supposing they are not from Niger Delta, supposing they are not even Nigerians and we now come and be giving relief materials to..
“People should bear the consequences of their characters, we will not support relief materials.”
However, the Senate has begun a probe into the killing of the soldiers as it asked its committees on defence, army, navy and air force to liaise with the military authorities to get more information on the remote and immediate cause of what it described as a dastardly act.
It also called on the Federal Government to identify, apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of the horrific killing and bring them to book, just as it observed a minute silence in honour of those killed.
The Red Chamber equally asked the Federal Government to hasten the recruitment and training of more police personnel to take up the job of policing responsibilities, while the Nigerian Army should play its primary role in the affairs of the country.