Paramount Ruler of Okochiri Kingdom of Okrika Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers state, HRM Ateke Tom, on Friday confirmed invasion of his palace by Army operatives on Thursday evening.
He spoke through the Chief of Staff of the Palace, HRH, Chief Tamuno Akalokpo, who led a protest in the community on Friday.
Akalokpo said the attack led to the killing of one John Ogbu, while several others were arrested and being held at the 6 Division headquarters of the NA, at Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The chief said: “It was around 3 and 4 pm yesterday afternoon, Soldiers and Police invaded our Royal Palace and destroyed many things and carried away some, they also killed one John Ogbu and the security dog, and also arrested some builders in the new Palace.”
He called on the federal government to intervene in the matter quickly by calling for dialogue to discuss the matter before it goes out of hands.
“We the people of Okochiri Kingdom are not happy with the unprovoked attack on our Monarch.
“He is not less than the Emir of Kano, Sokoto, the Oba of Yorubaland and other high Kings in the country without giving respect to the royal stool.
“We will not accept this, men of the Nigerian Army have desecrated the Palace of our King and the entire Kingdom, and we are not happy about it.
“If it is politically motivated, our King is not a politician. He embraces all the candidates of all the political parties contesting election in the state that came to visit him, he received all of them and gave his blessings to all of them, so why this?
“We want President Muhammadu Buhari to know about this and call the Army to order, we the Okrikans can no longer tolerate this anymore.
“We are calling on the Federal government (FG) to intervene and call for a dialogue to pay for damages done to us and our King in the attack.
“We will not accept this and if it is politically motivated, we the Okrikans will after the elections, visit the houses and communities of all the politicians that are involved in this for disturbing the peace of our community without any offence, we will also visit theirs”.
The chairman Okochiri council of Chiefs, Jackson Adoki, said if the FG does not intervene in the situation promptly the community will have nothing to do with the Army and Police again.
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