A former Commissioner for Information and Culture, Major General Ibrahim Bata Malgwi Haruna, has strongly criticized Asari Dokubo, a former Niger Delta Militants leader, who recently accused the Nigerian military of being involved in oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
Dokubo, who was the former leader of the defunct Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, made these allegations against the military high command after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He argued that ordinary citizens lack the resources and technology needed for oil bunkering, such as directly connecting pipes to oilheads to tap crude.
Furthermore, Asari vehemently denied having a private security force and claimed credit for helping to quell the crisis in the Niger and Kaduna axis of the country. However, Major General Haruna, appearing on Arise TV’s The Morning Show, disputed Asari’s moral right to speak on oil theft unless he was willing to offer an apology to Nigerians.
According to Major General Haruna, “Is Asari Dokubo free from oil theft? Is he not a beneficiary of oil theft? How did he finance his empire over there? Maybe he is accusing soldiers and lower-ranking individuals who steal jerrycans of petrol while he is behind the larger-scale theft and enjoyment of millions of dollars stashed in their bank accounts.”
“I believe that bringing up people like Dokubo is due to the failure of security and its operations. Those who have access to the military and other services point one finger at the military while the other three fingers are pointing back at them,” Major General Haruna added.
He explained that in the Nigerian context, individuals like Dokubo could not have reached their current positions if they were not indirectly involved in oil theft. Major General Haruna stated, “They cannot get to where they’ve gotten if oil spills are not dripping from their ears and mouths.”
