A dismissed Nigerian soldier has accused the Nigerian Army high command of being behind oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
The soldier who was last attached to 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Uyo, Akwa Ibom disclosed this to SaharaReporters.
He and others were in 2022 sentenced to nine years in prison “over illegal duty” by a court-martial at the 6 Division headquarters in Port Harcourt in 2022.
They were alleged to have abandoned their duty location and embarked on illegal patrols along Kilometre 45 in Abonnema, Akuku-toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The former soldier stated that he received a fair hearing but shared his experiences of being ordered to perform illegal tasks by senior officers. He alleged that it was a common practice among personnel in the creek, citing that senior army officers informed him that it was a longstanding tradition when he was deployed to the Brigade.
For instance, he alleged that soldiers escort oil thieves with Army gunboats and provide protection for them.
He said, “I joined the Nigerian Army on the 12 of August 2003 and was posted to the infantry arm of the Army. I have served in several units and attended a few combat and technical courses in the Army.
“I was sent to Maiduguri in Borno State in the counter-insurgency operations then known as Operation Lafya Dole in September 2015 and was there till August 2019 when my deployment was turned to a posting to the Headquarters of the 7 Division in Maiduguri, where I spent another two years before I was posted to 2 Brigade Headquarters in Uyo Akwa Ibom State, where I reported on the 15th of December 2021.
“On the 24th of February 2022, I was sent on attachment to the Headquarters Sector 3 located in Okirika, Rivers State as a gunboat operator and was deployed to a company that was carrying out the construction of a jetty for an oil firm.
“When I was handed over the gunboat (MK ll gunboat), the boat was in very bad state of disrepair and could barely move. When I inquired from the most senior officer at the location, he told me to call the Beach Master. When I called the Beach Master, he asked if I expected him to come and get my boat repaired.
“I was shocked by his response, so after the call, I relayed the conversation to the senior officer, it was at that point that he told me that was how they survived in the creeks – by finding ways to raise money and get boats repaired and also a little extra while also carrying out illegitimate duties.
“So we used another boat for illegal duty and the money was shared, so I used the money I got to fix my own boat – over N400,000. I have receipts of bank transfers and my expenditures.
“After fixing my boat, I was sent on patrol and unfortunately during the course of the patrol, my gunboat caught fire due to probably a spark from the engine which engulfed the whole boat.
“My crew and I abandoned the boat and swam till we were rescued by people in a speedboat and taken to Degema. At Degema, one of us decided to run away fearing the wrath of the Army for the burnt gunboat and weapons but I and one CPL reported and were taken to the 6 Division military police.
“Before our detention and investigations, the then-Sector commander came to see us and after I had told him everything that happened and why we went on the said illegal duty, he told us he would replace the boat and that we should just be honest in our statements. During the course of the investigation, we were told by the investigation team to only limit our statements to our part in the illegal duty and not to mention any reason or names.
“We were detained from the 11th of March till 22nd of September when a general court-martial was constituted to try us. Before the court-martial was inaugurated, the prosecutor approached us twice to take a guilty plea so as to fast-track the case and give us a lesser punishment for the said offences.
“When our charges were served, I was surprised to see that I and Cpl Endurance had our charges multiplied from the initial three counts we were given to eight counts each. When I approached my lawyer, he told me that since we had an agreement with the prosecutor and a plea bargain was what would be adopted if an agreement was reached, there would be no need to argue on the issue of duplicity of the charges.”
He added, “The top army officers are behind oil bunkering, they use weapons junior officers and receive ‘returns’. They also send money to those at the army headquarters, it’s like a cabal.”
But efforts made SaharaReporters to get the reaction of the Nigerian Army were unsuccessful, as its spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu did not answer his calls.
He also did not reply to a text message sent to his mobile line.
Credit: SaharaReporters
