A Nigerian Niger Delta activist has accused some personnel of Nigeria’s Army and Navy of being culpable for the massive oil theft in the country’s oil rich Niger Delta region. He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim.
The military and the Navy have also issued strong denials of any involvement in oil theft.
Asari Dokubo stated this on Friday while addressing State House Correspondents after meeting Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The Army and Navy are behind oil theft. They intimidate civil defence, who are by law expected to protect installations. They tap directly from the oil head. What has been happening in the last eight years is unprecedented anywhere in the world,” he said.
Mr. Dokubo alleged that officers and men of the army and navy deployed to protect oil installations instead of that “set up facilities they call local refineries.
Sounding confident, Mr Dokubo said with the election of Mr Tinubu and the support he enjoys from people like him and many others, “there will be zero oil theft in the Niger Delta”.
He also said powerful persons based in Abuja that are behind the oil theft but added they have met their match in Nigeria’s new President.
