*Says claims of his hatred for Igbos mischievous, unfounded

An All Progressives Congress, (APC), supporters group, has condemned calls for the arrest of ex-militant leader, Asari Dokubo, over his recent allegation that senior Army and Naval commanders are responsible for over 99 per cent of crude oil theft in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

At a press conference in Abuja, weekend, National Coordinator of the group, Ambassador Ibrahim Batati, said Asari Dokubo only speaks the truth because this is not the first time such allegations were level against the two security outfits.”

He said “in the oil sector, we know that the security that is there are the soldiers, the Navy, the civil defence and marine police which Asari Dokubo mentioned. All of them must do their duty to their fatherland and should not blame Asari Dokubo for speaking the facts”.

“Asari Dokubo should not be blamed because if you have a house, you put a security and unauthorized persons are entering the house who do you question? It is the security you will ask and that is the same thing with the oil issue.

According to Batati, “Our security that we put in our oil sector and to guard our farmers in the farms, have failed and all of them, not just the Army and Navy, must account to Nigerians on their service.

“My appeal to all of us including civilians is to be sincere to our Fatherland because the Army and Navy cannot do this alone without the connivance of even we the civilians…”

He said ” The renewed hope we are campaigning for and voted for must be supported for the desired change. I am urging the new service to work for unity and progress. You cannot be given an office and you do nothing”.

Batati lamented that high insecurity has made it difficult for farmers to cultivate food and this is very disastrous to the populace.

Reacting to a recent video on social media accusing Dokubo of hate speech against the Igbo nation, the national coordinator said “In the Igbo region, we have been hearing that some of them are accusing Asari Dokubo, we don’t want to call the enemies of this nation because all we need for now is cooperation to call ourselves a nation.

We should all join our hands together and move this country forward because this is our Fatherland and we know that we don’t have any other country than Nigeria so it is better for all of us to come together.

“It is not about accusing each other. If you have been given peanuts to go and say anything that will destabilise Nigeria, you are wasting your time,” he advised.

Contributing, security expert, Hassan Arivi, said ” We all know that crude is the mainstay of our economy and there is no way Asari will come out and make such a statement if he doesn’t have the facts. He is a key stakeholder in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

“in the next hundred days in office of the current administration, Nigerians should see a change in terms of security generally.”