Prominent Niger Delta leader, Asari Dokubo, has accused the Nigerian military of being behind 99 percent of oil theft in the country.
Dokubo made the accusation after a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu in his office on Friday.
He stated that the President has promised to investigate allegations of huge oil bunkering by notorious naval commanders that are kingpins, and promised to take decisive action to halt the shameful act.
Dokubo added that there are powerful cabals operating from Abuja, vowing that these powerful forces in place have now met their match and many people would soon be marching to Kuje.
He has volunteered to use his boys to assist and do the necessary to halt the evil.
The former militant leader argued that ordinary Niger Delta citizens who are often blamed for oil theft are not responsible, as they do not have the wherewithal to perform such sophisticated act of stealing.
According to him, the manner in which the oil thieves have gone about their criminal activities has stripped the people of the Niger Delta of their livelihood, and it is a crime against humanity.
Dokubo also alleged that it is an act of blackmail for the military to say that they have insufficient armaments to deal with insecurity, accusing them of forfeiting their weapons to the insurgents, which continued to fuel the insurgency.
Channels Television has reached out to the military for a reaction and a response is being awaited as of the time of filing this report.
In October last year, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, vowed to investigate oil theft activities in the Niger Delta.
General Irabor made the vow when he alongside the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, visited scene of the illegal insertions at the Trans-Escravos pipeline in the Yokiri area of Delta State.
“This is an eye-opener and I’m glad that I’ve come here,” the General said. “This is really very sad and we are going to get to the root of it all. There will be an investigation that will go through the entire length of the chain to establish who did this and how long it has been, among several other issues,” he had said.
