Oil Theft: Anger In Military Over Indictment By Asari Dokubo

By Gideon Njoku

The Nigeria Military is angry over the labelling of its officers as oil thieves by a Niger Delta Leader, Mujahid Asari Dokubo.

Dokubo, a known agitator of the independence of the Niger Delta, ruffled feathers in the Military when he, on Friday, June 16, 2023, inside the Aso Rock Villa, insisted that the Military – specifically, the Army and the Navy – is responsible for the stealing of 99 per cent of crude oil in the Niger Delta.

The stealing of crude is an economic sabotage which has robbed Nigeria of trillions of Dollars over the years, and brought its economy to its knees.

Dokubo, a friend and supporter of President Bola Tinubu, spoke  to State House Correspondents when he emerged from a surprising almost two-hour closed-door meeting with the President.

He told the Correspondents that the Military, notedly, the Army and the Navy, are the ones stealing crude oil in the Niger Delta, and so, sabotaging the economy.

He promised to work with the Tinubu Government to put a stop to the crude theft as he would be an obstacle to the thieves he has identified.

But his indictment has not gone down well with the Military who not only feels sad but is very angry. It has also not gone down well with a number of individuals who were uncomfortable with the platform and venue he used to make the serious allegation.

The Olowu of Kuta, HRH Adekunle Oyelude Makama, Tegbosun III, in a statement  condemned Dokubo’s utterances and pointed out that they were capable of demoralising the Military. He said that a few bad eggs in the Military, same as in any other career, cannot be used to generalise and dismiss the whole of the Nigeria Military as oil thieves.

The Monarch, also, faulted the venue where  Dokubo made the serious allegation.

He noted:  “The outburst of Dokubo that the Military was responsible for oil theft after  his visit to Mr President is unbecoming. It’s a betrayal of trust. Why should he use the Presidential Press Gallery to make such statement that’s capable of demoralising our Military.

“If he has any information about some unscrupulous elements in the military involved in oil theft, he can pass it unto Mr President without the undue sensationalism. It’s uncalled for. With the supreme sacrifice our military had made and forces of insurgency and associated unrest across the country It’s  grappling with daily in order to keep Nigeria as one, that statement is tantamout to breaking their spirit. It’s not the best.”

But the Nigerian Navy, in a response, dripping with anger, has asked Dokubo to name its Officers involved in oil theft, and provide empirical evidence.

In a statement signed by its spokesman, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, the Navy dismissed Dokubo’s allegation as “spurious and unguarded.”

He submitted, short of calling the accuser an oil thief, that “oil thieves were expressing frustration because the Nigerian Navy, alongside the entire Military, has been relentlessly preventing their attempts to sabotage the economy through the ongoing ‘Operation DAKATAR DA BARAWO’

He noted that “the Navy maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of criminality, including the alleged theft mentioned by Asari Dokubo.”

On the Navy’s activities in the Niger Delta,  Ayo-Vaughan said:

“The Navy has an operation in the Niger-Delta that has been running for over one year plus to curb oil theft. Operation DAKATAR DA BARAWO has denied oil thieves more than N76billion worth of crude oil. The money that would have helped them to further increase their illegal artisanal refineries.

“So, the Navy is actively fighting oil theft. For anybody to make such spurious allegations, bring the names. He (Dokubo) is in the Niger Delta, he has boys in the Niger Delta.

“The company that was given a contract by the NNPC on pipeline surveillance, they are working with the Nigerian Navy and Operation Delta Safe in the Niger-Delta to curb oil theft.

“For somebody to just make such unguarded statement, bring the names. You know that there is an operation (Operation DAKATA BARAWO) going on in the Niger Delta being run by the Nigerian Navy since April last year. The Navy has been running it in synergy with the NNPC.

“NNPC holds regular meetings with the Chief of Naval Staff to review the operations. Just last week, the Chief Executive of NUPREC was here to have a meeting with CNS. Just two days ago, the management team for the other one on downstream regulatory authority were also here to have a meeting. For us, if you want to make such spurious allegations, bring the names. Simple!”

In its own reaction, Spokesperson for the Army, Brigadier -General Onyema Nwachukwu, dismissed the allegation as unfortunate, insisting, when he spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that ” the Nigerian Army has been vigorously engaged in the fight against illegal oil bunkering, oil theft, illegal oil refining and other sundry crimes in the region with positive results.

“And this is evident in the increase in daily oil production per barrel from an abysmally dwindling output in the past.

“The Nigerian Army has zero tolerance for any compromise on the part of our troops and will not condone such acts of economic sabotage.”

However, not a few people say Dokubo badly wants part of the  crude oil pipeline protection contract given to a company where Government Ekpemupolo, popular as Tompolo, has very substantial interest, by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari Government. “He feels left out”, a source told this medium.

On the day of President Tinubu’s inauguration, Tompolo spent hundreds of millions of Naira I’m advertisements to congratulate the President. He bought up the front page of, almost, every National Newspaper. He was, obviously, protecting “his backyard.”