There are misgivings and apprehensions within the Armed Forces of Nigeria over the scathing direct attack by Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), on Friday and his confirmation that his private Army is executing a security contract in the North central region of the country.
The outbursts are alarming not just for what was said but the location and the level of the former militant leader’s contacts at The Presidency, the nation’s seat of power.
Dokubo, after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, declared at the President’s Media Briefing Room that his men, “employed by Nigerian government” are the ones securing Abuja-Kaduna expressway and not Nigerian Army.
He also laid the blame for the bulk cases of oil theft recorded in the oil-rich region on the feet of officers and men of the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy.
Asari Dokubo accused the Nigerian military of blackmailing the security architecture of the country describing it as “shameful.”
And with his private Army, Dokubo has launched full-scaled attack on the image and operations of the Nigerian military, comparing his mercenary group’s effectiveness with the nation’s Armed Forces.
Targeting the nation’s military, he said: “There is 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 listen to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars. I repeat they are liars because I am a participant.
“I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers. And in Abuja today, you are travelling to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. 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.
“One per cent 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.”
Asari Dokubo, formerly Melford Dokubo Goodhead Jr., was President of the Ijaw Youth Council in 2001 and later founded the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), one of the armed groups operating in the Niger Delta region. A Muslim from the Niger Delta, his populist views and an anti-government posturing earned him folk hero status among Nigerians especially from the Niger Delta.
Dokubo’s NDPVF, along other groups like Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) that operated under Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) under Tompolo (Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo) and Henry Okar, fought the Armed forces of Nigeria (AFN) for control the Delta’s oil resources. These groups engaged in oil ‘bunkering’ and other illegal forms of local resource extraction.
While Tompolo was rewarded with contract for award of a N48 billion-a-year to protect pipelines bearing petroleum products. Now, Asari has been handed the security contract for the strategic Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
But reacting to Dokubo’s attack on the military, Olowu of Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude Makama, Tegbosun III, on Saturday warned him not to demoralise the military with his unguarded statement, stating that any attempt to ridicule the Armed Forces because of a few bad elements like any other institution will be counterproductive.
Olowu, in a statement by his Media Office, said: “The outburst of Dokubo that the military was responsible for the 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 a 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 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 to keep Nigeria as one, that statement is tantamount to breaking their spirit; it’s not the best.”
Spokesperson of Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, denied allegations of oil theft, saying that the Army has been vigorously engaged in the fight against illegal oil bunkering, oil theft, illegal oil refining and other sundry crimes in the Niger Delta.
Nwachukwu noted that these efforts has yielded positive results as evident in the increase in daily oil production per barrel from an abysmally dwindling output in the past.
Said he: “The Nigerian Army has zero tolerance for any compromise on the part of our troops and will not condone such acts of economic sabotage. No black sheep will be spared if identified.”
In the same vein, Nigerian Navy’s Spokesperson, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan blamed Dokubo’s allegation as coming from “oil thieves who are angry because the land, maritime and air component of the Joint Task Force Operation DELTA SAFE as well as other operations in the South South zone of the country have sustained the efforts to deny oil thieves avenues to sabotage economy through ongoing “Operation DAKATAR DA BARAWO” and sustained a relatively safe and peaceful environment for business activities to strife in the region.
“If Asari Dokubo is seeking some form of relevance and he alleges that there are cabals of military personnel who are involved in crude oil theft, let him bring the names. Nobody is afraid of getting the names of those involved in crude oil theft. You cannot make such serious allegations and think that we just sweep it down the carpet, there will be an official response from Defence Headquarters on this matter. The Chief of Defence Staff does not condone that, nor those the Chief of Naval Staff under whom I serve.”
