Mujahid Asari Dokubo, a Niger Delta leader and former agitator, said releasing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, would not ease the tensions in the South-East.
Dokubo told State House correspondents after he met President Bola Tinubu behind closed doors at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Friday that releasing the IPOB leader will escalate tension.
He said: “During EndSars, Nnamdi Kanu was walking free. What did he do? He poured petrol on the flames of EndSars. Now, he has been caught. What of the people who have died? This is a criminal. He should face the law.
“Releasing Nnamdi Kanu is rewarding criminality and rewarding gruesome murder of innocent people. He should face the law for the actions and instigations he has carried out.”
Speaking further, Dokubo alleged that the bulk cases of oil theft recorded in the oil-rich region are traceable to the Army and Navy.
“The military is at the centre of oil theft and we have to make this very clear to the Nigerian public that 99 per cent of oil theft can be traced to the Nigerian military, the Army and the Navy especially,” he saidm
He noted that he pledged his support to the Federal Government to bring oil theft to “zero,” believing that the Tinubu-led administration would “fish out” the culpable elements in the military.
Dokubo said oil theft and security framed his nearly two-hour discussion with the President.
On security, he faulted the narrative that the military was under-equipped to take on terrorism, banditry and militancy head-on, describing it as “blackmail.
“The blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listen to these false narratives. So this blackmail must end. They have enough resources to fight.”