A Niger Delta monarch, leaders, and stakeholders have asked the nation’s security agencies to carry out internal cleansing, and fish out officers and men involved in crude oil banditry, rather than challenging a citizen that spoke the bitter truth to name the complicit security officials.
They asked President Bola Tinubu, who, recently, sacked all the service chiefs, and appointed new ones to give the fresh helmsmen clear-cut directives to expose and punish all military personnel engaged in crude oil theft.
Responding to the Nigerian Navy’s demand through its Spokesperson, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vauguhan, that the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, should name the military officers involved in oil bunkering, the stakeholders advised the security agencies not take the patience of Niger Delta people for granted.
Dokubo-Asari, during a visit to President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last week, disclosed that military officers were involved in crude oil bunkering in the oil region.
Akin to his Navy counterpart, the Nigerian Army Spokesperson, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, also debunked the claim of military participation in oil bunkering, saying the army had intensified its battle against the oil thieves.
However, stakeholders, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard, during the week, insisted Dokubo-Asari should not mention any name publicly, and that security officials’ participation in oil bunkering was common knowledge in the creeks.
They said that he (Dokubo-Asari) was not the first to speak out, as an ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, whose Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, is one of the private surveillance contractors currently monitoring the nation’s oil pipelines, and others, made a similar disclosure in the past.
Don’t take N-Delta people for granted – HRM Whiskey
The Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom in Delta State, HRM King Obukohwo Monday Whiskey, Udurhie 1, who noted that the military was trying to save face, said: “First, the Federal Government must be very discrete in its investigation to know who the crude oil thieves are, as the statement by Dokubo-Asari is not only a fact, but also the bitter truth.”
“There is a cartel that involves security personnel, oil companies’ executives and top government officials. Do not forget, that the oil they are bunkering is not in drums.
“This oil is being stolen in high-capacity barges and in most cases, ships. These are not businesses of peasant people; people who do not have international connections, and poor people. If you must steal oil, you must have a ship. Which Niger Delta person has a ship?
“Therefore, telling Dokubo-Asari to come and name names is just face-saving. They are trying to save their face. They should not take the patience of the Niger Delta people for granted.
“They are well-known in the Niger Delta for their illicit activities. Go around the seas in the Niger Delta, sometimes, you pass a military houseboat, less than a pole from there, there is an ongoing operation. Are you now saying they are not aware of what is happening there? Can villagers go there to challenge those people, and survive it?
“This country belongs to all of us and if we want to rescue this country from the hands of few corrupt individuals, we must be ready to call a spade a spade.
Leave Dokubo-Asari; do your work- Essien, ex-minister
A former Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, told our correspondent: “My answer is that Dokubo-Asari cannot be asked to name the people. That could be a simplistic approach to the problem.”
“The military protects oil facilities; several people have said in the past that the people supposed to protect oil are stealing it. If the military hears that, they should investigate it and bring out the culprits.
“Therefore, let them take the investigation more seriously. They should do their work, and not expect any individual or organisation to tell them those responsible for oil theft in the country.
“They are the government apparatus directed to protect the oil from being stolen, so they should monitor those they have deployed, make sure they work, and get the culprits.
“It is because they were not doing their work that the Federal Government had to appoint Tompolo to do the work at a very heavy cost. Therefore, their incapability led to incurring additional costs to do their work.
Tompolo, Dokubo-Asari have said enough —Omare, ex-IYC president
Former President, Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC, Barr Eric Omare, said, “My view is that neither Dokubo-Asari nor Tompolo needs to say more than what they have already said by going further to mention names of military officers involved in oil bunkering.
“The Nigerian government knows those military officers they sent to the Niger Delta to protect oil facilities and they are the ones involved in oil bunkering.
“If the federal government is serious about tackling oil bunkering, Tompolo, Dokubo-Asari and other leaders of the Niger Delta region have already said enough to warrant the government identifying the culprits.
“Therefore, what is required is the political will to handle the menace of oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. The problem is not the absence of laws, but absence of political will by the highest level of political leadership.
“Those involved in the oil bunkering are known to the federal government and the new government under President Tinubu should summon the courage, and political will to tackle the menace.”
Military know the truth —Prof Awhefeada
An intellectual, Prof. Sunny Awhefeada said, “The military high command is merely kicking to save face. Dokubo-Asari is not saying anything new, and the military know he is not lying. However, they must speak up in self-defense.
“About 20 years ago, HRM Okumagba, before then President Olusegun Obasanjo, pointed at senior military officers seated inside the Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Conference Auditorium, Effurun, near Warri, told the President that he should look no further looking for oil thieves because the military officers inside the auditorium were the thieves.”
“Also recall that around 2008, they tried some senior naval officers for bunkering. The menace did not start today.
“Tompolo and Dokubo-Asari do not need to name the alleged military men involved. Both of them can do a brief for the President wherein they can mention names. Then the President can institute an independent investigation. They should treat anybody found culpable as an economic saboteur.
“It is not the first time they have revealed that military personnel were involved in oil, Tompolo, made similar allegations, last year
“Other Niger Delta leaders and ex-agitators had stated same, but the fear is that naming the officers, and personnel involved will tantamount to exposing oneself to persecution, attack, and death because the oil cabal is powerful,” he added.
‘Fail man ship’ —Prof Muoboghare, ex-commissioner
A former Commissioner for Higher Education in Delta State, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, stated: “There are many things Dokubo-Asari said, including handling security in Abuja and Kaduna, what are the military men doing. What he said is actually common knowledge in the Niger Delta that some military men and police personnel lobby to go to the creeks, not because they want to checkmate anything, but because they want to make money.”
“It is common knowledge that they are making money from the creeks. When you are doing research, it is not by reading books, you go down, and you mingle with the people. Let the security men mingle with the people of the Niger Delta, and they will know.
“That is how to do investigation, you go undercover, and anybody that has done undercover work would have gathered information that security personnel are involved.
“Forget about the occasional burning of tankers that are loaded with crude oil. That is criminal against the environment, you just gather three to five tankers, is that all the oil that is stolen from the Niger Delta? That is ‘fail man ship’.
Bunkering carried out at military checkpoints— Ozobo, activist
A Niger Delta activist, Comrade Austin Ozobo said, “It is not new that military is aiding and abetting oil theft in Niger Delta. Dokubo-Asari is not the first person to have said this. Several reports on the bunkering activities in the country had fingered the military. We witness it in several occasions. Go to the Forcados Terminal in Delta State, you will see by yourself.”
“Go to the Southern Ijaw, you will see by yourself. They carry out bunkering operations right at the military checkpoints. They transport the through military checkpoints and give bunkering vessels military cover to load oil in Niger Delta.
“The military outbursts over Dokubo-Asari revelation surprised me . I believe President Tinubu is well abreast with the system. Except he is from Niger Republic, else, he should know the true position of things in the country.
“The security agencies polluted and destroyed our rivers and lands when they were in charge of oil surveillance contracts. He should patiently investigate the situation from 2015 to 2022 and between 2022 and 2023, now that Tompolo is handling oil surveillance. the connivance of the military. He should ensure that the military officers involved face the music.
“Tinubu should protect whistleblowers. Give them the support and cover to ensure that the cartel does them no harm.
“However, I do not expect the military to ask Dokubo-Asari to name the military men involved in crude oil bunkering. If they do that, definitely that will be a threat to peace in the Niger Delta region. Though the sky will not fall if Dokubo-Asari mentions the names of the military officers involved.
“I also think that the military might have challenged Dokubo-Asari to mention personnel involved to enable them to carry out a disciplinary action against such officers, and not to witch-hunt him. You know Dokubo-Asari has outgrown the level the military will unlawfully intimidate him.
“Therefore, I do not think that will amount to a death warrant. There is no cause for alarm. If Dokubo-Asari wishes to name them, okay, else there is no need for that. Let us not drag ourselves with the past, but make policies to strengthen our today and tomorrow.
“Mentioning military officers involved will not bring the needed solution, rather the country will spend money unnecessarily for legal battles with the accused persons.
“Again, apart from the military, there are other cartels involved, such as oil companies’ managers and government officials. Outside the declared daily production in the country, managers and foreign officials in the oil sector illegally load vessels to sell abroad daily.
“Some government officials and others operating oil wells are deeply involved in the fraud. I do not encourage my brother, Dokubo-Asari, to mention any name. Those involved know themselves. If they failed to stop then, they should face punishment.
“For now, let the President be concerned about sanitizing the oil sector, blocking further leakages and saboteurs.
Military not responsible for 99% theft — Tonye Cole
All Progressives Congress, APC governorship aspirant in Rivers State since 2019, Tonye Cole, asserted: “There is nothing new in what Dokubo-Asari said, but 99 per cent military involvement is way too much. I do not think the military is upset with Dokubo-Asari for accusing them of invlvement.”
“ Those at the helm of security cannot deny there are bad eggs among them, who aid oil theft, but to say 99 per cent means he (Asari) assumed that almost all the oil theft happening is being done solely by the military.”
Navy should have kept quiet–Nsuke, MOSOP president
The President, Movement for Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, told Saturday Vanguard: “Military involvement in crude oil theft is something we already knew and long established. Dokubo-Asari only re-echoed it. It is not just the army and navy, police are also involved.”
“Asari is not talking about what is new. The pipelines run in our communities and we see what happens to them. We see how they truck the stolen products across the country in a coordinated logistics system. Therefore, they cannot ask Asari or anyone else to name people they always transfer and replace.
“Former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, accused a brigade commander of this same crime, what was the response of the Defence Headquarters? They did nothing. MOSOP has severally raised the issue also, and they did nothing in response.
“To better understand police and military involvement, begin by seeking answers to how fake products get to petrol stations far and near despite the security on the roads. Understanding that alliance will bring you to the compromises that follow because they reported and investigated these crimes to the security posts, within the domains they moved the products.
”So it ends with alliances instead of punishments. However, it is much bigger than that. It has become a huge business and several incidences have shown compromise between the oil thieves and the military men sent to secure the pipelines.
“It is a complex and coordinated crime. It would have been better for the navy to be silent and use their intelligence to investigate these allegations, address the issues because they are real and Asari does not need to name anyone.
Wake-up call to military — Gbemre, activist
National Coordinator, Niger Delta Peace Coalition, Zik Gbemre, observed, “What Dokubo-Asari said is not new. Has the military forgotten that ex-governor, Wike, openly indicted security operatives of owning illegal refineries in his state when he was governor? He told some security operatives to their faces that they could not do such illegal bunkering activities in his state.”
“Only a fool will say the security operatives are not involved. Who are the people policing the Nigeria waters, and creeks? Nigerian army personnel secure all the oil installations, including pipelines, in the land areas of the South-South, while the navy personnel operate in the creeks and sea where this illegal bunkering is taking place.
“The vessels used are big to be noticed by navy, who are the security in charge of the waterways in the South-South, including the sea. The tankers that oil thieves use are visible for the army to see in the land areas. These illegal refineries are visible for the DSS, Police, Army, and Navy personnel to notice.
“Oil companies provide houseboats for the military in the swamp to guard oil installations. Are they saying they are not aware of all these booming illegal bunkerings? Is the oil theft fake? Again, what is the role of the Department of Security Service, DSS, supposed to provide intelligence to the army, and police to act on when crude oil theft is going unrestrained?
“The money used in paying all security operatives comes from the export of crude oil and gas. They cannot be sitting in the comfort of their offices to protect oil facilities. The multi-billion surveillance contract given to Tompolo is an indictment on the military, Police, DSS, civil defence corps, and not exonerating Dokubo-Asari.
“If they were doing their work without compromise, no person would hire Tompolo’s company to do that job with bloated contract sum.
“What Dokubo-Asari has said is a wake-up call to the military, and co-security operatives to do the work the country recruited them to do. If there was no oil theft, no person will point accusing fingers at them.
“Tinubu should match action with words and punish military officers, police, DSS, all charged with securing the responsibility if they cannot protect the oil facilities. Posting them out is not enough. There should be consequences for those who cannot do their jobs.
“As for the NNPCL and NUPRC top officials, they should punish them for aiding illegal bunkering as well. It is not possible for that large-scale illegal bunkering without the observation of NNPCL and NUPRC military, DSS, Police, Nigeria security and civil corps. The vessels are too big that the military will not notice them stealing crude oil.
“In most cases, the security operatives do not respond if they are informed of hot taps on pipelines by surveillance contractors, and security teams of oil companies.
“The top security officers merely sit in their air-conditioned offices to wait for people who will give them information.
@Vanguard