The retired military officer said the allegations should not be taken seriously by the government, a statement from his media office said on Saturday.
A former Minister of Communications, Major-General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (retd.) has described allegations made by Niger Delta ex-militant leader, Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, that the Nigerian Army, Navy and some cabals are behind 99 percent of the oil theft in the country as too weighty.
The retired military officer said the allegations should not be taken seriously by the government, a statement from his media office said on Saturday.
Dokubo made the allegations after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in the State House, Abuja on Friday, stating that the President had promised to investigate allegations of oil theft.
He added that there were powerful cabals operating from Abuja, vowing that such powerful forces had now met their match.
According to him, many people would soon be taken to Kuje Prison as, according to the ex-militant, he had volunteered to use his boys to assist and do what was necessary to stop the theft.
Reacting to the development, a retired member of the Nigerian Armed Forces Complex and Minister of Communications, Olanrewaju called on the Armed Forces to report Asari Dokubo to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Services (DSS) for them to invite him to divulge all that he knows so records will be set straight.
The former General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, said the allegations appeared to be more like an attempt to bring down the military and make militancy popular to the public.
He said it should not be heard that an Asari Dokubo and his ‘boys’ were able to carry arms and boast that they were behind the success recorded against terrorists and bandits on the Abuja-Kaduna axis, Niger State and across the Niger Delta while painting the military as liars for laying claim to same.
Olanrewaju said, "This is a cheap political blackmail. Dokubo should be directed by the President to provide whatever evidence is available to him to the security services. An individual like Dokubo cannot eat his cake and have it. He's now the complainant, jury, and court.
"He has taken an open criticism of the entire security services and has whitewashed them in the public. The accusations are strong and grimmed enough to be thoroughly investigated through a commission of inquiry and steps taken accordingly.
"This man is playing to the gallery without proof of evidence, and so, he should not be treated lightly. It is in the interest of Mr. President to act on his open denigration of his Armed forces as the Commander-in-Chief.
"This man goes about with armed men approved by the federal government, and whereas states that have security outfits (e.g. Amotekun) were denied from doing so.
"This kind of double standard has no place in today's political setting. Gen Abisoye's NNPC Report & My Review (1993 -95) had taken care of these lapses, but the government ignored them."
In October last year, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, vowed to investigate oil theft activities in the Niger Delta.
General Irabor made the vow when he alongside the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mallam Mele Kyari, visited scene of the illegal insertions at the Trans-Escravos pipeline in the Yokiri area of Delta State.