Delta Filling Station Shutdown: Nigerian Army Personnels in Massive Extortion Plot, Brutalize, Threats Manager
“SHOCKING! NIGERIAN ARMY IN SAPELE ACCUSED OF BRUTALIZING, INTIMIDATING AND THREATENING PASTOR ARMSTRONG ODETA’S LIFE IN MASSIVE EXTORTION PLOT!”
In what can be described as an egregious act of oppression, humiliation and man’s inhumanity to man, residents of the ancient city of Sapele, were alarmed over a disturbing report that was published on a popular online platform in Sapele, “Main Sapele Amebo” on the 21st of August , 2025, regarding the unprofessional conduct of barbarity of certain officers of the Nigerian Army, over an unsubstantiated claim alleging that the N25,000.00 (Twenty-five thousand Naira) fuel they bought for their Hilux vehicle at the Dums International Limited Petrol Station, situated beside Omega Prayer ground, along Sapele/Warri Express road, Amukpe in Sapele Local Government Area, Delta State, knocked the engine of the Hilux Vehicle. This unsubstantiated claim has raised grave concerns about the safety and rights of civilians. How can they prove the claim that they bought the fuel that knocked their vehicle’s engine from a filling station that sold fuel to hundreds of other cars the same day, and their vehicle was the only vehicle that had this issue.
As a matter of fact, since this report of intimidation, brutality and threats to life was meted on Pastor Armstrong Odeta, who is the manager of the filling station, surfaced, it has painted the recurrent troubling picture of unprofessional interactions between high handed and overzealous military personnels over harmless civilians. And since the day this ugly incident happened, the filling station has been locked by the Army.
Meanwhile, the head of the Army in the said sub-barrack, in Sapele, ordered the arrest and wrongful detention of both the manager Pastor Armstrong Odeta, and the fuel attendant, Mr Avwerosuo Avwonyen, at the Sapele Divisional Police Station, around 7:00 pm until around 6:00 am the next day morning of 22nd of August, 2025, after brutalizing them and forcing the manager under duress to agree to pay the sum of N7,000,000 to buy a brand new engine in Lagos and another additional N1,000,000 to fix it, excluding other incidental expenses. Such actions are utterly uncivilized, philistine and totally barbarous.
Additionally, they also seized Pastor Armstrong Odeta’s Sienna Car, and destroyed the note book of vital records of the filling station, including the way-bill of products sourced from Predent Energy Company, Oghareki, Oghara. Meanwhile, Pastor Armstrong Odeta, who is afraid of his life, is currently hospitalized and undergoing treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Sapele
It is strongly and widely believed that this entire incident of intimidation, brutality and threat to Pastor Armstrong Odeta’s life was orchestrated to extort huge sum of money from him.
This ugly and distressing situation not only erodes the trust between Nigerian citizens and their protectors but also poses significant implications for gross violations of human rights and the overall safety and social stability of Sapele.
This is an urgent appeal to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sen. Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Nigeria Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, and all relevant authorities, to address this alarming report of brutality, intimidation and threat to kill Pastor Armstrong Odeta, by the military personnels in Sapele. And to stop them from exercising their acts of threat to his life and the orchestrated plot to extort huge amount of money from him, while instituting a thorough investigation on the matter.
