It was a solemn ceremony. The nation, indeed, the military was in deep grief over the gruesome murder of four officers, and 13 soldiers who were murdered on March 14 by some irate youths in the Okuama community of Delta state.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday, led governors, federal lawmakers, military top brass, dignitaries, families, and friends of the 17 gallant military personnel gruesomely murdered in Delta State to lay wreaths in honour of the slain officers and soldiers.

The President as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was the Special Guest of Honour at the burial ceremony at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja.

Governors Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Usman Ododo (Kogi), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), and Abba Yusuf (Kano) were present in company with members of their state executives.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.Tajudeen Abbas led members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to honour the slain military personnel.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla led members of the armed forces to pay final respects to the fallen heroes.

The remains of the military personnel killed in Delta State arrived around 2:39 pm in different ambulance vehicles at the National Military Cemetery, Airport Road, Abuja.

The officers are Commanding Officer 181 Amphibious Battalion, Lt. Col. A.H Ali; Maj S.D Shafa (N/13976); Maj D.E Obi (N/14395) and Capt U Zakari (N/16348).

The soldiers are SSgt Yahaya Saidu (3NA/36/2974); Cpl Yahaya Danbaba (1ONA/65/7274); Cpl Kabiru Bashir (11NA/66/9853); LCpl Bulus Haruna (16NA/TS/5844); LCpl Sola Opeyemi (17NA/760719); LCpl Bello Anas (17NA/76/290); LCpl Hamman Peter (NA/T82653); LCpl Ibrahim Abdullahi (18NA/77/1191); Pte Alhaji Isah (17NA/76/6079); Pte Clement Francis (19NA/78/0911); Pte Abubakar Ali (19NA/78/2162); Pte Ibrahim Adamu (19NA/78/6079) and Pte Adamu Ibrahim (21NA/80/4795).

The slain military personnel responded to a distress call after a communal land dispute when they were gruesomely murdered. The beheaded corpses of the slain soldiers were later recovered from a neigbouring river, while the stomachs and hearts of others were ripped off.

The President arrived at the solemn event at exactly 04:10 pm to “honour of our men of gallantry and valor” who paid the supreme price.

After the opening processions, prayers, laying of military accouterments on caskets which housed the remains of the slain soldiers, and the sound of the bugle, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja, mourned the “gallant heroes”, saying it is highly demoralising that the citizens the soldiers tried to protect ended up killing them.

At Wednesday’s burial ceremony, President Tinubu honoured the 17 personnel of the Nigerian Army with National Awards.

The four senior Officers were honoured with Member of the Order of Niger MON and 13 Soldiers were honoured with Order Of The Federal Republic (OFR).

The president also announced scholarship for their children up to the University level for the 17 deceased personnel.