The viral videos Sowore earlier posted show some houses on fire made to look like a reprisal attack by the army.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has apologised for posting videos purportedly showing Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State under reprisal attack following the killing of 16 military personnel.
According to Defence Headquarters (DHQ), the servicemen, who were of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, were attacked while responding to a communal clash.
The viral videos Sowore earlier posted show some houses on fire made to look like a reprisal attack by the army.
However, the ex-presidential candidate, who returned to his family in the United States last week after five years of being on trial in Nigeria for alleged terrorism, said he discovered that the video was false as it depicts a different event that happened in the neighbouring Bayelsa State and not Delta State.
Taking to his X handle (formerly Twitter) on Monday night, Sowore said he had since deleted the videos.
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He, however, insisted that the army desist from further reprisal attacks against innocent civilians in Okuama and any other settlement in the Niger Delta region.
Sowore wrote: “I deleted my earlier videos that showed a burning village in the Niger Delta region that was purportedly from reprisal attacks against Okuama community by the Nigerian Army @HQNigeriaArmy upon new evidence that this was from an old different incident in Nembe, Bayelsa state.
“I apologise for the wrong video. However, I insist that the Nigerian Army @HQNigeriaArmy desist from further reprisal attacks against innocent civilians in Okuama and any other settlement in the Niger Delta region, I call for an impartial investigation to unravel the real culprits involved in killing of Nigerian soldiers in Okuama. The Nigerian Armed forces must refrain from further reprisal attacks againt villages in the area. #RevolutionNow.”
The DHQ, on Monday, gave the names of the slain army officers and soldiers as Lt. Col. AH Ali (Commanding Officer, 181 Amphibious Battalion); Major SD Shafa; Major DE Obi; Capt. U Zakari, and Sgt. Yahaya Saidu.
Others included Cpl Yahaya Danbaba; Cpl Kabir Bashir; LCpl Bulus Haruna; LCpl Sole Opeyemi; LCpl Bello Anas; LCpl Hamman Peter; LCpl Ibrahim Abdullahi; Pte Alhaji Isah; Pte Clement Francis; Pte Abubakar Ali; Pte Ibrahim Adamu, and Pte Adamu Ibrahim.
