An Ijaw chief from Gbaramatu kingdom, in Warri South council area of Delta state, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, has accused the top hierarchy of the Nigerian military of being the masterminds behind oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region.

Comrade Sheriff Mulade.

Mulade, who is the chairman of the Kokodiagbene community in the kingdom, spoke to our reporter recently who undertook a three-day investigation in the creeks of the Niger Delta into issues concerning the continuing military occupation of the area.

Mulade said that the military stole over N70m in cash from the palace of the kingdom, and stole precious objects and valuables from the kingdom.

He said that when the military swooped on the community, the people scampered into the forest, allowing the military to have a field day in the kingdom, invading the palace and stealing anything available in the community on sight.

“Who is perpetuating illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta? As an authoritative voice in Gbaramatu and chairman of Kokodiagbene community, I can tell you that the security agents are the perpetrators of illegal bunkering in the region.

“Every five to 10 kilometres there is security outpost. There is security gunboat on patrol everywhere. But in between the gunboats and security outpost, there is illegal bunkering going on. The young men doing it are stooges, they are errand boys to the soldiers, they are looking for daily bread.

“Do you think those village boys can hire vessels? Do you know how much it takes to hire vessels? Do you know much for hiring local cotonou boats? They are owned by the military hierarchy.

“If a junior officer arrests any of those boys, they will have superior call from senior officers, saying ‘leave that one: it belongs to commodore this, commandant that and brigadier general this and that’. Then those of us who stand against them become targets.”

On the issue of theft, Mulade said: “The soldiers stole N70m cash from our palace. We are not saying it because they invaded our community. This is cash kept for the construction of our palace. If you visit Okporoza, our palace is under construction.

“This is the palace that all the communities in Gbaramatu kingdom are paying royalties to. We are all building the palace collectively. And the money meant for the palace building was the money stolen by the military when they raided the community in May. They also stole valuables from the community worth hundreds of millions and went away with them.

“The money stolen was meant for the kingdom not for individuals. We all mopped up the cash to see that we speed up the building, which is why we have not crowned the new king of the kingdom. If anybody says we are exaggerating the figure, that person is lying.

“The valuable goods stolen are worth millions of naira. There are tools, electronics and palace gadgets. The military went away with all of them and left our community naked.”

In partial confirmation of Mulade’s allegations, our correspondent who visited the community on a fact-finding mission saw the expansive palace grounds under construction, but also saw that the recent military occupation had seemingly caused the people to abandon the construction, as 90 per cent of buildings in the community were abandoned when NAIJ.com visited Okporoza.

All efforts to get reactions from the Military proved abortive.