How Asari helped to topple Nigeria’s Service Chiefs

How Asari helped to topple Nigeria’s Service Chiefs

By Jonas Happy

What began as a mere accusation by a Niger Delta militant against the military in Nigeria last week has resulted in a renewed effort by the army, navy, the Police and the Civil Defence to stamp out illegal bunkering.

Reports reaching our news desk say most of last week the army and the navy which have denied any involvement in the massive stealing that is going on in the Niger Delta swung into action.

We have gathered that most masterminds of ‘kpofire’ operations in the Niger Delta communities are now on the run.

Some of the sites where illegal refining of petroleum products have hitherto taken place have been neutralized by military and paramilitary agencies.

Dissatisfied with the operations of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Asari Dokubo who visited President Bola Tinubu alleged that the military was sabotaging the fight against insurgency  and spearheading the oil theft that is reported in the Niger Delta.

Nigeria has of late been unable to meet its share of delivery targets set by OPEC. The shortfall in oil deliveries has been blamed on the stealing.

The development, it will be recalled, forced the Buhari government to enter into a strong partnership with Tompolo to protect oil pipelines and help stop oil thieves, some of them in uniform, from continuing with illegal oil exports.

Asari who drew attention to the rot in the Niger Delta emphasized that 99% of the Oil theft that is taking place in the region is being carried out by the army and the navy.

The former militant may have let the cat out of the bag at great risk to his life, some say. They say it is a price that he has to pay.

In the Niger Delta, many agree, the fearless agitator and son of Judge Goodhead hit the nail on the head.

“We know some, if not most of the soldiers serving in the Niger Delta, are soldiers of fortune who simply got posted here to make their money”, a source volunteered.

He alleged that military personnel with eyes on Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom pay as much as N500,000 as bribes to be posted to these states.

“Under one month, these men who came with nothing make back their money, buy cars and live profligate lives. Some of them have built homes and businesses here”, the source said under anonymous conditions.

“They escort vehicles conveying illegal crude, extort money from illegal bunkerers and oil their own illegal refineries and engage in other activities too heinous to mention”, the source added.

Shortly after Asari spoke, the military establishment and its sympathisers reacted, asking Asari to call names if he had any facts at all, but those coordinated cat calls were not enough to save the service chiefs.

They were fired by a new Commander-in-Chief who is promising Nigerians that new days of renewed hope are here at last.

In the creeks where ordinary people depend on the ‘kpofire business’ Asari’s comment on the stealing that is going on.

An owner of an illegal refinery remarked, “Asari has forgotten that he is one of the pioneers of illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta. The boys learnt it from men like him.

“There was a time when what we know today as kpofire was openly  known as Asari fuel.

“Now he has the audacity to open his mouth to say we are stealing our own wealth. We are watching.”