Delta turmoil: I escaped with 2 children, left my wife behind – Okuama man recounts ordeal

• the man told newsmen that he embarked on an arduous and painstaking journey through treacherous paths to escape Okuama

A week after the gruesome killing of sixteen soldiers in Okuama community, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, residents of the area are still grappling with the devastating consequences of the shocking incident.

A man from the beleaguered Okuama community, Otu (not real name) has recounted how he abandoned his wife in the village and escaped with two kids.

Hundreds of locals of the Okuama community had fled the troubled enclave when troops of the Nigerian Army stormed the community to avenge the killing of 17 soldiers last Friday.

Speaking on the development, the man told newsmen that he embarked on an arduous and painstaking journey through treacherous paths to escape Okuama.

He disclosed that trekked all through the day and night backing one of his kids and carrying the other on his shoulder through the forest to neighboring Tebideba.

Speaking during an interview with Vanguard, he lamented that they were turned back by the people for fear that soldiers might also invade their community.

“I trekked for one and half days through the thick of the forest, running away from the invading soldiers with one child strapped on my back and another on my shoulder. I left my wife behind in that moment of confusion.

“When we got to Tebideba, I thought relief had come, but we were denied stay by the people who said they did not want to have any issue with the military.

‘’Understating their fear, given the tense situation in the area, we had to return to the forest and continue our search for succour until we saw somebody paddling a canoe and pleaded for assistance.

“The Good Samaritan paddled us to the boundary with Sangana community, and there we got another lift through a local canoe to Sangana, from where we boarded a boat and left. You can imagine carrying two kids for one and a half days trekking through the thick forest, using the sun as a guide.

“It was just by the grace of God that we escaped. My worry now is about my wife, particularly, as I have been unable to reach her on phone since I fled the town,” he recounted