By Kingsley Omonobi and Chancel Sunday
BOMADI—The Army officer, Major M. Josiah, abducted in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State, has been rescued, but the army and the community are making conflicting claims over how he was freed.
While the Army said the rescue operation was the result of meticulous planning, intelligence gathering, and collaboration with community leaders and members of Bomadi, community sources said the major was rescued by a palm-wine tapper and lumberers from the deep forest of Tuomo community, who found him tied to a boat.
Major Josiah was abducted from his lodge on Sunday night by armed men, who stormed the lodge in the early hours of the day, as they ransacked the rooms and whisked him away to the creeks of Burutu.
The army, in a statement yesterday, said: “This synergy enabled the troops to track down the abductors and rescue the senior officer at Tuomor Waterside in Bomadi on September 9, 2025.
“Although Major Josiah sustained gunshot wounds during the rescue operation, he has been evacuated to a medical facility for treatment and is receiving adequate care.
“The Commander, 63 Brigade, Nigerian Army/Sector 1, Joint Task Force, South South, Operation DELTA SAFE, Brigadier General M. Shonibare, commended the troops for their bravery and tactical prowess.”
But a community source, who spoke to Vanguard said the army officer was found in the deep forest of Tuomo community, where the car in which the kidnappers carried out the operation was abandoned.
Two village sources, gave different accounts of how he was rescued as well.
One of the sources said: “A young girl left her father’s palm-wine camp in a canoe early in the morning to check her fishing net, and in the process of checking the nets she saw the army officer sitting inside a canoe in the distance. She rushed back home to tell her dad what she had seen.
“Her father, on receiving the news, followed his daughter to the scene and found Major Josiah sitting in the canoe, whose hands were tied to one of the canoe seats. He also sustained gunshot wounds in one of his legs and hands.
“The palm-wine tapper untied him and took him to his camp. He went to another camp belonging to lumberers and told them the situation. You know, this is flood season and they brought him in a canoe through the brook that leads to the community this morning.”
The second source, who also spoke to Vanguard on the rescue of Major Josiah, said: “The army officer was heard shouting and wailing in the deep forest of Tuomo community. That is the forest where palm-wine tappers and lumberers establish their camps.
“On hearing the anguished cry from a distance, some lumberers decided to trace the voice to the location, and on getting there they saw the man who had gunshots on one of his legs and hands.
“They took him to a palm-wine tapper’s camp and narrated the situation to him. They decided that they would bring him to the community. They took him in a canoe and rowed through the brook to the community this morning.
“The community then alerted the Bomadi Division of the military Joint Task Force, JTF, which came and took him away.”
However, efforts to speak with the military command at Bomadi were unfruitful.
as calls placed to the commander’s mobile phone were not answered at press time.
But a source in Bomadi, who confided in our reporter, said that Major Josiah had already been taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical treatment.
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