Nigeria Navy And The Sad Story of Murdered Seaman’s Remains

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

It’s been more than two weeks since an operative of the Nigeria Navy, LS SOLOMON O X10679 was killed in a controversial circumstances his colleague seaman, by LS AKILA A L8486.

According to the Defence Headquarters, both officers were at the time serving at the Operation Sheto Yanma, a unit of the Nigerian Navy (NN), Forward Operating Base (FOB) located in Dansadau, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Confirming his death by shooting, the Defence headquarters had on Friday, October 25, 2024 explained that LS Akila carried out the sordid act following an argument between the two.

The Defence Headquarters further explained that LS Akila shot the deceased with his service rifle in the early hours of Friday. The two personnel were said to have been serving at Team 3, formerly Operation Hadarin Daji, currently, renamed Operation Sheto Yanma.

Speaking on the development, , Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, said, “On 25 October 24, at about 03.12hrs, naval personnel, LS Akila, deployed at FOB Dansadau for Operation Fansan Yamma, in questionable circumstances opened fire sporadically killing a fellow military colleague.

“Thereafter, he was arrested, disarmed, and detained and an investigation has since commenced into the case. After investigation, the case will be escalated to a standing court martial set up to address such misdemeanour among troops.”

Continuing, he said, “Meanwhile, the administrative procedure for notifying the family of the deceased is ongoing. It is for this reason his name is not yet released to the public. Nevertheless, the name will be released in due course.

“Accordingly, we urge the media to exercise caution in reporting in order not to further demoralise the family of the deceased.”

Ordinarily, it is expected that the very thoughtful consideration for the late officer’s family as requested by the defence headquarters would have translated into speedy conclusions of investigations into the murder as well as the timely release of the remains of the dead officer to his family for burial.

But that was not to be as findings indicate that the naval authority may  have seized the corpse which it refused to release to the family, further traumatizing the already agonizing relatives.

Reliable sources inform that the dead officer’s relatives who flew in from the South West were not even allowed to view the corpse, despite persistent appeal.

It was further gathered that the deceased officer’s aunt who came to Dansadau was asked to inform the wife of the late officer back in Lagos to proceed to Zamfara State at an allotted date to witness the burial.

Afterwards, all plea by the relatives to have the body released to them for burial at home was believed to have been flatly rejected by the naval authority.

Although the DQ had promised while briefing the press on the development that the case would be escalated to a standing court martial after prior investigation, there is no evidence that the investigation have been concluded and a court martial to try the killer officer, who was believed to have actually opened fire indiscriminately on a number of his colleagues, has been put in place.

While two fellow officers reportedly escaped his attack, LS Solomon who was at the time believed to be inside his room and oblivious of the situation had rushed out of the room, attracted by colleagues yelling.

He was however not as lucky, as Akila shot him again and again, whilst he was struggling to escape, according to impeccable insider sources. This perspective also puts a question mark on the allegation of ‘argument between Akila and Solomon’ as presented by the DQ.

Given the seeming twists and official posturing by the naval authority, there are concerns on whether or not, justice would be served.

Efforts to cross check and get the reaction of the authority proved abortive as the Director of Naval Information, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams- Aliu did not answer his telephone when our reporter placed calls to him. He also simply replied “I will revert” to a text message sent to him on the issue; but failed to do so many days after and up until the time of going to press.