Two persons were shot dead by soldiers from the 3 Battalion Army, at Okere community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The first victim was identified as Macaulay Uku and the second simply identified as Eguono, was shot on Saturday afternoon, by soldiers from the 3 Battalion Nigerian Army Effurun, while servral others sustained injuries during the visit to the area by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III. The deceased and those injured were said to be loyalists of the ousted Chief Emami, whose support base is in the Okere community.
The Commanding Officer of the Battalion, Major A. Ohegbe, said that he was unaware of any shooting but confirmed the heavy presence of security personnel during the visit of the Olu of Warri to the community on Saturday.
According to him, the presence of soldiers was orchestrated by the resistance to the monarch’s visit by a section of the people of the Okere community, believed to be loyal to Chief Ayiri Emami, the ousted Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom.
A source insisted that a section of youths in the Okere Community had resisted the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, from performing a traditional rite at the ancient grove harbouring an ancestral shrine.
“This is a sacrilege. The Olu is Ogiame, owner of Warri lands and waters. He’s Afomasi (the one who cannot be questioned). How can a group of people stop the paramount ruler from visiting a part of his kingdom?”
The angry youths and supposed supporters of Emami were said to be resisting the monarch from desecrating the shrine by pouring anointing oil as libation on the ground.
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The two deceased people reportedly died one after the other on Saturday from injuries they allegedly sustained during the shootout with the soldiers.
It will, however, be recalled that a section of the Okere community is backing Chief Emami, whose purported removal is the subject of subsisting litigation.
The section said to be loyal to Emami, a business mogul and chieftain of the APC in Delta State, is opposed to the monarch’s ascension to his father’s throne ab initio.
