Alhaji Asari Dokubu, the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) and a former Niger Delta agitator, claimed on Friday that the army and navy were responsible for more than 98% of all oil theft in the nation. Following a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Dokubo made the accusation.
The former agitator claimed that the people who continue oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region are powerful cabals that frequently operate out of Abuja and have an entitlement attitude. He denied accusations that residents of the oil-rich region were responsible for oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
He argued that ‘notorious’ Army and Naval oil kingpins who have engaged in an unprecedented crude oil theft in the last eight years are not to be held accountable because they lack the resources to carry out the stealing, unlike common Niger Delta citizens who are frequently held accountable for these criminal activities.
He claimed that the way the oil thieves have carried out their criminal actions has robbed the Niger Delta’s residents of their means of subsistence, calling it a crime against humanity.
How Dokubo stated The Saturday Vanguard special report on oil theft from previous week was confirmed by President Tinubu. Informed Niger Delta stakeholders were mentioned in our research as suggesting that Tinubu would have to step on toes to stop oil thieves. In our investigation, we also questioned whether those involved in criminal activity could put an end to it, as Tinubu had urged the military to do a week earlier. The investigation made note of the fact that theft of crude oil involves the army, navy, police, and DSS.
Dokubo explained his visit to State House reporters following the meeting, saying it was to offer the President words of support for his deeds and statements since taking office.
According to him, “The president is a fatherly figure to me. Our relationship spans over 30 years. I came here today to give words of encouragement to the President for the actions and policies so far made in this less than three weeks of governing a very difficult country like Nigeria.
“We discussed a wide range of issues, especially on security and oil theft in the Niger Delta. Myself and my brothers have assured the President that there would be zero oil theft and vandalization in the Niger Delta. We’re going to work with an NNPCL and the IOCs to make sure that oil theft is brought to zero.
“I also want to say that oil theft is encouraged by the military. The military is at the centre of oil theft and we have to make this very clear to the Nigerian public. 99 per cent of oil theft can be traced to the Nigerian military, the army and the navy especially.
“The Army and the Navy intimidate the Civil Defence, who are by status, the people who are supposed to guard these pipelines.
They receive a lot of money from NNPCL and the IOCs and just across the corner, you will see a houseboat, a few meters from the houseboat, you will see an oil bunkering refinery or tapping directly from oil well.
“It is very pathetic now. What is happening in the Niger Delta in the past eight years was unprecedented in the history of oil production anywhere in the world. The vandals do not only attack the pipelines, they have migrated from the pipeline and have gone directly to the oil well heads and they take directly from the oil well heads. They set up haphazard facilities they call local refineries, artisanal refineries; this is crime against humanity because the livelihood of the people is being totally destroyed.
“The livelihood of the people is totally destroyed and at every meter, you see a naval houseboat or an army house boat stationed.
“So the main culprits are the Army and the Navy and there are notorious naval commanders who are known to be kingpins of these bunkering activities. Even if they give one billion contracts to everybody in the Niger Delta, because these military men are armed from the Army and the Navy nothing will happen.
“The President has promised to take decisive action to make sure that this does not continue, and that it is brought to an end. It is very shameful. So I had volunteered to help, to assist and to do the things that are necessary to put a stop to this evil that is being perpetrated against the people of the Niger Delta, the oil community and the whole of Nigerians”, he said.
The former militant added that “his men” were stationed around the nation keeping the calm and claimed that it was his “men” who had made it feasible for Nigerians to travel between Abuja and Kaduna and vice versa.
He said, “I am a participant in this war, I fight on the side the government of the Nigerian state; in Plateau, in Niger, in Anambra, in Imo, in Abia and in Rivers state and in Abuja. Today you’re travelling to Kaduna on this road, it’s not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja, or travel to Kaduna. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.
“Today you travel to Baga, you go to Shiroro, you go to Wase. We have lost so many men and in all these engagements, we don’t even have one per cent of the armament deployed by the Nigerian military and we have had resounding success. So this blackmail must end, they have enough resources to fight. Instead of fighting, they are busy stealing, they are busy making the government spend unnecessarily”, he said.
Dokubo also claimed that the military’s claim that they lack the weapons to cope with instability is an attempt to blackmail them and that doing so just served to give the insurgents more ammunition for their cause.
He said that there was a full-scale civil war occurring in various sections of Nigeria and that he had continued to provide mercenary services to the federal government to keep the entire nation safe so that its residents may travel and conduct their daily lives without fear.
“On security, I want to clearly say that there are full-scale wars going on in different parts of this country. In the Southeast, the IPOB/ESN is waging a full-scale war against the government of this country and many local governments, many communities are deserted, schools are closed, and hospitals are closed.
“In the same vein, in Niger, in Zamfara, in Plateau, in Kaduna, in Yobe, in Borno, we’re only talking about Boko Haram. Boko Haram is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s a full-scale war going on and the blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listened to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars, I repeat they are liars because I’m a participant.”