A Niger Delta born activist, The CEO, King Amachree Royal Academy(Automotive academy, Mujahid Dokubo-asari has condemned the President, Muhammadu Buhari over his statement on Federation Account.
Asari Dokubo
According to the post on his Facebook Profile, monitored by NAIJA CENTER NEWS, the monies entering into the account are supposed to be shared and not kept.
He advised the President to get himself a constitutional teacher, adding that he is displaying his ignorance on matters that his knowledge is grossly inadequate about.
Asari added “As devious as the Nigerian state may appear, it has a piece paper it calls its constitution and it is this document that regulates the affairs of the state…the constitution states in
Section 162(1) “The Federation shall maintain a special account to be called “the Federation Account” into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation, except the proceeds from the personal income tax of the personnel of the armed forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or department of government charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
Subsection (2)“The President, upon the receipt of advise from the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, shall table before the National Assembly proposals for revenue allocation from the Federation Account, and in determining the formula, the National Assembly shall take into account, the allocation principles especially those of population, equality of States, internal revenue generation, land mass, terrain as well as population density.”
subsection (10) “For the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, “revenue” means any income or return accruing to or derived by the Government of the Federation from any source…..”
Explaining the above constitution, the former militant said “ it is manifestly lucid that there shall be a Federation Account into which “all revenues” must be paid into.
“Therefore,the talk about empty treasury clearly shows Buhari ignorance in the understanding of the clear provisions of the constitution he swore to abide by,secure,protect and defend on May 29, 2015…All proceeds of revenue into the federation account will be promptly shared amongst the federal, states,local government,commissions and agencies as stated in the constitution….The constitution did not provide for keeping any accrued revenue behind in the federation account.
In the same vein, the so-called Excesses Crude Oil account,National Reserve, Sovereign wealth account and all other accounts of whatever name or names are unknown to the constitution as the supreme law that binds all under it…It is criminal and vexatious for anyone who respect the supreme law of the land to operate outside it’s boundaries….But the likes of Buhari and Obasanjo are known abusers of the constitution and laws of the land….Who had in the past benefited from constitutional abuses.
Asari reminded Buhari that 1984 is different from 2015, adding that no one is afraid of him (The President).
He said “What Buhari fail to realize is that 1984 is not 2015….He should by now know that NOBODY IS AFRAID OF HIM AND IT TAKES TWO TO PLAY A GAME. Those who are encouraging him to use state institutions to witch hunt people should be ready for the boomerang effect of these extra-constitutional actions.”
The Ijaw Youth Council (Worldwide) on Thursday distanced itself from the threats by an ex-militant leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, that Niger Delta militants might return to the creeks to protest against the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential election.
IYC, however, said it would cooperate with and closely monitor the incoming administration of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) to “see their(its) dance steps.”
The President of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, made the clarifications in Abuja after reading a communique issued at the end of its meeting held at Tuomo community in Delta State to review the outcome of the March 28, 2015 Presidential election.
He also expressed sadness over what he described as the deliberate efforts by the core North and a section of the South-West “to frustrate the administration of Jonathan and force him out of power through false media propaganda and insurgency in the North in connivance with some foreign countries.”
Eradiri accused the unnamed foreign countries of displaying “obvious bias during the electoral process.”
He added, “The Ijaw nation, satisfied with the performance and conduct of President Jonathan in office, will warmly welcome him back home from national service.”
Dokubo-Asari, leader of Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, had in a statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Rex Anighoro, said the voting pattern showed that the South-West and the North “ganged up” against the South-South and South-East geo-political zones.
The ex-Niger Delta warlord believed it was unfair that the minorities were being emasculated by the majority ethnic groups.
But Eradiri said the NDPVF founder was an individual like any other Nigerian, who had a right to his views.
He said, “Well, Alhaji Dokubo-Asari is an individual, who has a right to his views. Being a leader in the Niger-Delta, he may be saying things based on the way he sees it. The fact that we have also taken a decision does not mean that other structures or individuals will not make one or two comments as a result of immediate reactions to the way the Presidential election went.
“But the institution that leads the organisation, we, the youths of Niger Delta, have made our position. Every other person may look at it in their own way, but we have decided to look at Buhari’s administration and see how it will go and we will know the steps to take.
“We don’t have any plan for violence and returning to the creeks. Ijaw and Niger Delta youths should be calm, peaceful and maintain the existing peace in the Niger Delta region.”
Following an allegation by the Niger Delta Salvation Front/Nigeria Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPSF/NDPVF), led by Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, that the people of the North and South-West conspired against the Niger-Delta to deny their kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan a second term in office, the Niger Delta People Confederal (NDPC) yesterday said the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari represents the true wish of Nigerian people.
The Co-ordinator of NDPC, Mr Iyamu Osaro Culture, in a press statement in Benin City, the Edo State capital, made available to newsmen yesterday, reminded Dokubo-Asari that it was the same regional group they are accusing today that voted overwhelmingly for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and sued for peace in order to fast-track development in the region than promoting hostilities or return to the creeks.
He said: “Let no person see the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as conspiracy against we the Niger Delta people or acceptance of defeat by the father of modern democracy (President Jonathan) as cowardice. Every Nigerian should see the just concluded presidential election, which produced the Buhari as Nigerians’ wish.
“At this critical time, we the people of Niger Delta wants rapid development of our region, countless youth empowerment and above all want the president–elect, when sworn in, to retrieve all our oil wells which belong to individuals and perhaps re-allocate them to Niger Delta states for aggressive transformation of our region.
“However, if the President-elect fails to meet our expectations after four years, then we would change his government through the ballot just the same way President Jonathan was shown the way out.
“Hence we want to appeal to Mr Asari Dokubo to kindly give peace a chance as we look forward to joining the incoming President to transform our region and Nigeria at large, which is not negotiable.”
WARRI- MEMBERS of the Niger Delta People Salvation Front, NDPSF, volunteers, led by their leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, marched the streets of Warri, Delta State, causing unprecedented traffic in a show of strong solidarity and support for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s re election.
The road walk saw thousands of youths reaffirming and expressing their determination to vote for Dr Jonathan.
Speaking at the rally, Alhaji Dokubo- Asari stated that it shall be gun for gun, bullet for bullet, bomb for bomb should Buhari attempt to cause chaos after losing the election.
He warned that Buhari must never be allowed to get close to power as he is a disaster waiting to happen, adding, “He is a spent force with a stale mind incapable of leading a multi complex Nigerian State.”
He said he was corrupt and immoral, while his wife had the guts to insult the women of the Niger Delta, especially the good women of Edo State by calling them prostitutes.
Dokubo Asari, wearing a red T shirt with the inscription March for Goodluck Jonathan insisted that Muhammadu Buhari remained a tyrant and unrepentant dictator who ought to be striped of his military honours as he rose the rank and file by unfair, immoral and corrupt means, having not been qualified.
He called on “all persons of who believe that never again should those who see us all as a conquered people; those who believe that we exist at their pleasure; those who believes our sovereignty must be continually confiscated; and that you and I are mere appendages in the Nigeria union lead us again to kick out Buhari, who is a chief promoter of born to rule and Boko Haram terrorism.”
” Muhammadu Buhari ought to be in jail and not allowed the luxury of contesting an election with sane people. He is the face of deceit,” he said.
He called on all good people of the Nigerian Union to vote for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who though not perfect, remains the most credible option for moving Nigeria forward and restructuring Nigeria.
He remarked that Good luck Jonathan remains our collective symbol of freedom from predominance.
He later endorsed Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru as his preferred gubernatorial candidate in Delta state.
He has remained optimistic about the second term of President Goodluck Jonathan even before this time. Now, with the time ticking closer to the presidential election, he appears firmer in his conviction. There is nothing anybody says that will make him to believe otherwise. Not even the
Dokubo-Asari
“fireworks” from the opposition. He picks hole in the distribution of the permanent voter cards, PVCs, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, saying millions of Nigerians cannot be “deliberately” disenfranchised. To this end, he advocates for a return to the temporary voter cards, TVCs. The leader of Niger -Delta People’s Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, says, in this interview, that Jonathan is facing unusual opposition to his second term bid because some people feel they have the divine right to rule Nigeria. Excerpts:
How do you react to the postponement of the elections?
I am not in support of the postponement if all the preparations had been done. In fact, I have sapped myself. I worked to the point that I nearly passed out. I was addressing Muslims in Lagos on the 31st of January and I collapsed because I had not been having enough sleep and time for myself. I had thought that the elections would come for me to go the Saudi Arabia and thank Allah for the victory he has granted us.
But a situation where over 20 million are deliberately going to be disenfranchised by INEC, that’s not fair. It is very hypocritical of the United States; I think the president has been giving a lot of people unnecessary opportunities to meddle in the internal affairs of Nigeria. Nigeria is a sovereign state. It is not a satellite of the United States of America. Will anybody in the US say that 100 people should be disenfranchised not to talk of 20 million people? Is it Goodluck Jonathan or the PDP that stopped INEC since 2011 to make preparations for 100 percent distribution of the PVCs? How come 36 percent of the PVCs has been collected in Lagos and over 75 percent PVCs has been collected in Borno State where, according to their quotes, about 20 LGAs are in the hands of insurgents? This lends credence to the suspicion that the APC is working with the insurgents. I listened to Senator Mamora on television and he said that local government elections were conducted in Borno and Yobe States. What was the magic? What agreement did they have? God is revealing these people. Who are collecting the PVCs in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe States? How come Borno and Yobe have collected more PVCs than Lagos, Rivers, Imo States? Who is deliberately hoarding the PVCs? Is it Goodluck Jonathan? Have they compromised INEC? I was a member of ACN, so I know how they operate during elections. I know that before elections, when PDP is dealing with the top cadre of the security agencies, APC relates with the DPOs, DCOs, the rank and file.
Is that not a wild allegation?
It is not a wild allegation. I can give evidence. As somebody who was very active in ACN at the highest echelon, i dealt with the national leadership of the party directly and I know how they operate during elections. We keep quiet because we have friends there. But friends are no longer behaving like friends. So, we too should behave the way we behave.
But that was ACN.
ACN? It is ACN that has transmuted into APC because ACN is APC. All the others are just affiliates. They are associates. The driving force of the party is ACN. They are using the so-called idle followership of Buhari in the North. The machine, the intelligentsia, the think tank, everything is ACN. That is the way they rig election. In the judiciary, in INEC, they have people they work directly with. So, the elections should not be held with the PVC. No. The temporary voter cards, since INEC is unable to distribute all the PVCs, we should use the temporary one. PVC is not in our law. PVC testing machine is not known to our law. The electoral law does not recognise it. There is no e-voting. So, we should go back to the temporary voter card. INEC is deliberately disenfranchising some Nigerians. The constitutional right of a person is sacred to vote and be voted for. My wife contested House of
Representatives election in 2011, a candidate, but up till now, she cannot find her PVC. And it is the responsibility of INEC to provide the PVC. It is none of my business if somebody wants to come and pay me money and he says he went to the bank and armed robbers stole the money from him. So, if hoodlums stole PVCs, what’s my business? Bring my PVC. It is my right to vote and be voted for. You cannot deny me that right.
You advocate for 100 percent collection of the PVC but do you think it is possible for everyone to collect his PVC? Besides, no law has said so.
That is an assumption. You cannot deliberately circumvent the law. You can’t trample upon the law.
Even when there is no law to compel the people to collect the PVC?
But all the people who registered have their temporary voter cards. So, if we are not ready with the PVC, we can take their PVC to them. Their address is there. The bio-data are there. So, we can take it to them.
Is it not surprising to you that the security agencies united to say they couldn’t provide security for the elections which primarily necessitated the postponement?
That does not concern me. I don’t speak for the military.
But most people see it as conspiracy against democracy.
What is conspiracy when INEC has not been able to provide PVCs? When it has made sure that in Rivers State, only 56 percent of the population have their PVCs? What of the remaining Rivers people that they want to disenfranchise? My wife has not collected her PVC.
Should that have made the military to recommend the postponement of the elections?
I am not concerned about the military. It is not my business what Nigerian military does. You know where I am coming from. So whatever the Nigerian military says, it is their business.
You are an ardent supporter of President Jonathan. Can you share what you have done so far to ensure his victory at the polls?
I have campaigned. There is nothing I can tell you more than that. I have reached out. We have networked and we are still doing it. We are not sleeping. We are not losing a second.
Most people are still quick to say that amid other challenges, the economy is down under the president’s watch. Many believe such may work against his re-election. How do you react?
There was a global recession that swept across the West: Britain, US, Japan and so on. Today it is the turn of the oil and gas producing countries. Is it only Nigeria? Ghana economy is in tatters even though oil contributes very little to Ghana. Ghana’s currency is falling everyday. Dubai is in trouble. They have devalued their currency by 37 percent as at the last count. Russia is in trouble. Angola is almost going bankrupt. So, it is a global economic trend. It is not only Nigeria. But does the opposition have the recipe to manage the economy? On a television interview posted online, one of the campaign managers of General Buhari was seen with loads of dollars in his breast pockets. But he struggled to cover it. How can leaders be spending dollars and not Naira, thereby depleting the foreign exchange capacity of the country? And we know that most of them don’t spend Naira. They spend dollars, pounds and euros. That is what is causing the crisis in the economy. It is more demands for foreign currency than we earn from our resources and so the economy will be going down. It is all Nigerians that must work. Whatever policy on the ground, money laundering policy, etcetera, if the people are not ready to abide by the rules, hard and stringent economy rules, then we will have a problem.
If you were to highlight the achievements of Mr. President, what will they be?
We have been recounting them over and over. We are doing well even at war. We are pretending we are not at war. Today, a military man called me. He was supposed to be in Gombe to fight and dislodge Boko Haram. The captain who led them was killed. Some people were captured. They had to retreat. We are in constant touch with the people. Do you know what he told me? He said the president should remove all the northern Muslims soldiers from the battle front. That until he does that, this war cannot be won. That how did they know they were coming? Because there were no telephone networks there in the area where they were fighting. People had leaked their movement to Boko Haram. They went into an ambush. How did they know? No vehicle passed them. So, people are there who have a means of communication before they move. That the president should bring jet fighters to bomb and make sure it is northern Christians and southerners that fly these aircraft.
But that may be seen as genocide
What is genocide? People are fighting. They are killing you. So, you should fold your hands, you should be tied to a stake. You can’t box. These people are betraying. It is happening everywhere. These northerners are fifth columnists. And Mamora said they held elections and there was no banger sound. I posted it on my Facebook and people ignored it. How did they achieve that? Let them tell Nigerians. Now coming back to what Jonathan has done, Nigeria is becoming another food basket in Africa. Nigeria is coming back in all areas of agriculture: commercial agriculture and subsistent agriculture. A lot of people are going into agriculture. It is becoming more attractive. They are going into fish farming, livestock farming and so on. Commercial farming is contributing so much to the GDP of Nigeria. Go to the transportation sector and you will find out that the railway is working. The roads are being rehabilitated. New roads are being constructed. Now look at the airports. Today, a government is constructing four modern airports, not the remodeling: Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Kano, all brand new being constructed by the Chinese. It has never happened before. 12 universities were opened in one year. Has it happened before? There is the implementation of the Local Content Act, the Cabotage Act which is now bringing Nigerians into the oil and gas and marine business. People are making money, those who are ready to work. Even his opponents are benefitting from YouWin. The only thing that makes them to oppose Goodluck is that one group of people say they are divinely ordained by God to rule others.
Some people see Mr. President as an ethnic president, saying he favors his tribe more than any other. Do you share that belief?
How is he an ethnic president? A man that has his security adviser from the North. When Yar’Adua was there, who was the Chief of Army Staff? Who was the Chief of Defence Staff? Who were the people around Yar’Adua? When Obasanjo was there, who were those people around him? Who was the DG of DSS? Now in Jonathan’s government, the Defense Minister is from North. The national security adviser, North, IG of police, North, Controller-General of Customs, North. These are all Gambari. When they were in government, let them show us if that was how they ran the government. So, how is he an ethnic president? His Principal Secretary is a Gambari man. Chief of Staff is a Yoruba man. The Minister of Finance is Igbo. The Minister of Works is Ishan. The Minister of Police Affairs, Yoruba So, how is he an ethnic president?
Do you see him winning the elections in six weeks time?
I have always told you that we had already won. We will win. They will complain and we are ready for them. This election is between me and the Gambari North.
You were reported to have been arrested by the DSS recently over some inflammatory comments? How did that go?
No, no, no, I don’t know what they mean by “arrest”. It is a routine thing. I have always been invited by the DSS. I was invited by the DSS. I went to their office in Port Harcourt and they said ‘you did this and that’. And I said yes. They said I should go, that they will invite me again. So, it is a routine thing. In fact, it is less now. Under the late General Sani Abacha, it was a weekly thing. Under former President Obasanjo, the same. Now, it is less but I am used to it. Invitation? I have been detained 73 times in Nigeria. So, I am not perturbed.
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, a nongovernmental organization, has reported Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and his Niger Delta kinsmen to the International Criminal Court, ICC, over their inciting statements ahead of the February general elections.
In a letter dated February 3, and addressed to Amie Bensouda of the Office of the Prosecutor, ICC, HEDA stated that the comments credited to Mr. Dokubo and other Niger Delta militants were “akin to preparation for crimes against humanity”.
“Madam Prosecutor, to avoid a repeat of the Kenyan experience, where evidence to prosecute alleged sponsors of post-election violence could not be sufficiently mobilized, your office is hereby implored to broaden your monitoring engagement to cover pre-election utterances, actions, inactions and postulations from January 2014,” HEDA stated in the letter signed by Firdaws Ibrahim, Communication Officer, HEDA.
“Political gladiators have set the template for developments leading to the heated electoral process. Several politicians, public office holders and their supporters have embarked on hate campaigns, open threat of violence and even act tantamount to genocide.”
Two weeks ago, prominent Niger Delta militants met in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, and threatened to unleash violence on the country and take back the region’s oil should President Goodluck Jonathan lose re-election.
“For every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharaoh, there is a Moses. We are going to war. Everyone of you should go and fortify yourself,” Mr. Dokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, said at the gathering.
The militants were reacting to attacks on Mr. Jonathan and his campaign team during his rallies in the north.
Also, last November, Ibrahim Shema, the Katsina State governor, was caught on tape prodding his supporters to kill the opposition.
On January 14, the presidential candidates and their political parties signed a peace pact in Abuja, under the supervision of Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General, and Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary General.
Despite the peace accord, political campaigns across the country have continued to be characterized by hate speech, character assassination, religious and ethnic incitement and, physical attacks on campaign convoys.
The ICC on Tuesday warned that it would not take lightly the outbreak of violence during the general elections and vowed to prosecute persons or groups caught inciting or perpetrating acts of violence in the run-up or after election.
In the letter titled ‘Analysis of Security Situation in Nigeria,’ HEDA pledged to assist the ICC to ensure that sponsors and promoters of election violence are brought to book.
“Past experience have shown the government and by extension the ruling class as unwilling and incapable of bringing an end to politically induced violence or at the least, bring perpetrators of violence to book,” the group said.
“The April 16, 2011 Presidential election was greeted with an orgy of violence that took the world by surprise. It led to the death of over 800 persons in northern Nigeria. The victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states of Nigeria.
“In response to the mass killings, Nigerian Government on May 11, 2011 appointed a 22-member panel to investigate the causes and extent of the violence.
“In its report, submitted to the President on October 10, 2011, the panel indicted the government of contributing to the violence by failing to implement reports of past commissions and panels on ethno-religious and political crises which has contributed to the 2011 post-election violence and, urged the government to implement the reports.
“More than three years without implementation, even after a white paper was issued on the report, it is obvious the report has gone the way of those before it.
“The government has not only failed to implement recommendations of the Panel, the identified perpetrators of the violence are still freely working streets and, possibly emboldened by government’s inaction to unleash a higher degree of violence, if not favoured by outcomes of the 2015 election.”
Niger Delta militants have threatened to take up arms again if President Goodluck Jonathan failed to win in the coming February 14 presidential election.
Niger Delta Militant
The former militants spoke when they met with the Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson on Friday. They said Jonathan’s re-election was not negotiable.
Addressing the audience, a leader of the militant, popularly known as Boyloaf flayed the attack on the President in some northern states, saying nobody or group of persons had the monopoly of violence.
Boyloaf, who contended that there was nothing like one Nigeria, said the only thing binding Nigeria’s unity was the oil.
He believed that President Jonathan would win the election, but however noted that if the North out of desperation for power took power from their kinsman, the people of the Niger Delta would take their oil back.
The ex-warlord said, “We are Nigerians but not one Nigeria; what brings us together is oil. The North wants to use insecurity excuse to push out our own.
“One thing I can assure you is that though I am retired, I am not tired. We can go back to the struggle. We own the resources and they are saying we do not have the right to rule. I will assure you that we must collect our oil back. If they take back power from us, we will take back our oil. Let us fight this last fight and I tell you the Devil is a liar.”
He stressed the need for oneness of purpose among the people, urging them to keep their grudges apart and endeavour to tackle the present challenges facing the Ijaws.
On his part, another militant leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari lamented the alleged intimidation being meted out to the people of Ijaw stock in Nigeria, saying the people could not take it anymore.
He said, “For every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharoah, there is a Moses. We are going to war. Everyone of you should go and fortify yourself,’’ he said.
He advised those at the meeting to be ready for the battle ahead and declared that Jonathan would win reelection.
Dokubo-Asari, who condemned the attack on Jonathan by supporters of the opposition candidate maintained that the survival of the Ijaw nation rested in the hands of the militants gathered at the meeting.
Addressing the former militant leaders, who converged on the Banquet Hall, Government House, Yenagoa, Dickson called on them and their estimated 30,000 foot soldiers as well as the Ijaw nation to be united in their support for the re-election of Jonathan.
Dickson said the time had come for all stakeholders and interest groups in the Niger Delta, especially, the Ijaw nation, to pool their resources and work in one accord to ensure the President’s victory on February 14.
The governor described the re-election of President Jonathan as key to the developmental aspirations of the nation and the Niger Delta.
He noted that victory at the forthcoming polls would afford Jonathan the opportunity to consolidate on the achievements already recorded in the various sectors of the economy.
Dickson condemned in strong terms, the unwarranted attack on Jonathan’s campaign convoy in two northern states.
Buhari has lost credibility over certificate forgery
By Ehi Ekhator, Naija Center News
Hajia Mujahidat Daba Dokubo-Asari, a wife of the popular Niger Delta activitist, Dokubo Asari has said that the major political opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) stands for violence.
APC data Centre
Hajia Mujahidat, who always express her opinion on her Facebook page said apart from attacking President Goodluck Jonathan campaign team, the APC from its inception is violent.
She also said the supporters on Facebook are as their leaders because they attack anyone who post contrary to the topic they want, adding that they result to insult instead of commenting.
She said “APC as a party is a violent party apart from the attacks on presidential campaign convoy of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the ruling PDP , the party from inception is violent.
Dokubo said APC leaders from national level to state level, preach violence and are quick to accuse the PDP that they are about to be attacked
“Their leaders preaches nothing but violent from Buhari to all his supporters in the national and state level ,and they are the ones that will quickly attack, point fingers at the opposition ruling party that they have been attacked or about to be attacked.
“Their supporters on the social media are very violent when any topic is posted and it does not suit them, instead of commenting on that topic they result to insult everybody that does not toe their line of violence, APC wants power by force not through the ballot box .
“Let’s digress a bit, apart Buhari in APC is there any other person? no even Buhari has lost his credibility with this forgery of WAEC result so I do not see any credible person in APC as a party Nigerians would want to vote for come February 14th .Please if you want peace and still want a one Nigeria vote PDP , APC is a Boko Haram party don’t vote Boko Haram party.” She said.
ABUJA – Leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari Thursday reacted to the attack on the convoy of president Goodluck Jonathan by some irate youths in the state during a campaign rally on Tuesday, saying the Niger Delta would respond in due course.
Asari also warned the Igbo and the members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC who currently reside in the north to return home as they would have themselves to be blamed should anything happen to them.
Dokubo wants seven “dissident” governors to renounce their membership of PDP.
The NDPVF leader while addressing a press conference in Abuja faulted the Abuja peace accord entered into by President Jonathan and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Mohammadu Buhari with 12 others, saying it was unnecessary.
Going into memory lane, Asari recalled that the north has always had the penchant for causing election violence.
“There is an established pattern of pre and post election violence in the north. In the 50s when late Awolowo was campaigning in the north, he went with helicopters and he was mocked. People said he was flying over the houses and peeping their wives. That has continued and everywhere in the country, people say leave them alone. We don’t want any trouble. But I think the game has changed. The rules of the game have changed.
“For every action, there will be an opposite and equal reaction. I knew that the signing of the accord was useless and that the president subjected himself to sign such an accord. For me, it was out of place for a president and commander in chief of the armed forces of a country. But the president is a humble person. He does things that even marvel some of us and make us sometimes to be very angry.
“To be frank, I was very angry on that day they were signing it. The president has sworn to protect the lives of every Nigerian. So, why would he after taking a constitutional oath subject himself to another oath?
“So what happened in Katsinah is not a surprise. But don’t be surprised. We are putting the world on notice that they have started first. When we reply, let no body talk. Because we are going to reply. We did not sign any accord with them. They did not sign. They are talking about about election violence now because they know that other people will respond.
“Before, they had the monopoly of violence, so nobody cared who died. Our lives were not valuable and they had all the latitude to wreck havoc and did what they liked. But the game has changed. Be bold enough to tell them that game has changed. If they slice our throat, we are going to slice your throat. They stoned the president, you will hear from us. That’s the answer.
“My concern is what happens after the election because we know they will do what they are known to do every time. But this time, they will cry. So all Igbo people who are there, if you don’t come back home and you want to continue to be there and something happens to you, there is nobody to be blamed. If you have a child who is a youth corper and you allow him to be there, you will not hold anybody responsible.”
Asari who was also the former President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, reiterated his stand on victory for president Jonathan, saying he would win the February polls.
“There is no way Goodluck will not win the election. We will win them and we know they are preparing for violence in consonance with some foreign powers. When they do that, we will respond disproportionately. We will respond. That’s what we are going to do. If you hit me with a stick, I am going to hit you with iron. I am not speaking in riddles. I am speaking in plain language. My English may not be very good. I am speaking in my own street language. We are going respond disproportionately and we are apologetic.
“The people who are in Katsinah who did not hold their children should also know that I will not hold my children”, he said.
Reminded that Buhari has repeatedly dissociated himself from violence, Asari said “He is a liar. This is the same man who said that the blood of monkeys and baboons will flow on the street. He sounded a note of warning in clear terms. Who are the monkeys and the baboons? He has not explained to us. So, for him now to say whatever he says, that is his business.They burnt president Jonathan’s campaign vehicles in Jos and they were singing “sai Buhari oyoyo”. Why is it that violence is always initiated by the people shouting his name?”
He however said that there would not be violence unless the north “asks” for one.
“I assure you, nothing will happen anywhere if they do not initiate violence. Did we ask them to stone the president yesterday? Do you want us to fold our arms so that they will kill him? Let them stop the violence. When they do, we will stop. A situation where Shakua will stand and say Niger Delta we are coming for you. Goodluck I am coming for you. You are a man and I am a man. We are going to look at each other eyeball to eyeball. You can shoot and I can shot. You can kill and I can kill. You can destroy and I can destroy.
“The question is not for me. It is for Buhari, el-Rufai, Shakua. They are the people you have to direct this question to. Go and ask Buhari why he allowed his people to stone the president and commander -in-chief in Katsinah. There must be balance of terror. One person does not have the prerogative to kill, main and destroy.
On the preparedness and readiness of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct the polls, Asari said INEC was not ready. He however did not support the idea of postponing the elections
“From what INEC has done so far, it is not because of the violence, so many people have not collected their PVC. Look at the “ojoro”that is going on in INEC. Twenty of the twenty seven local governments in Borno are in the hands of Boko haram but more people have collected PVCs in Borno than in Abia state where there is no crisis.
“For me, let every person be allowed to vote without PVC. If we are going to use the PVC, then INEC is not ready. But I am not calling for the postponement of the election. We will win the election decisively. On the 14th of February, there will be “failbuhari” and will win decisively.”
On the saga trailing the academic qualification of Buhari, the Niger Delta activist challenged the presidential candidate to produce his WAEC certificate.
“A man rose to the rank of a General in the Nigeria army with a note from a principal that this man is in Form six, he will pass English, Mathematics, etcetera, he should be recruited and commissioned into the army. A year after this Mr. Saint deposited an affidavit that he has a WAEC result which has not been found. He said the military board has my result. Where on earth do you give your original certificate to your employers?” He asked.
Hajia Mujahidat Daba Dokubo-Asari, a wife of a controversial Niger Delta activist, Asari-Dokubo has taken on the Northerners and Southerners who she referred to as wicked and ignorant over their decisions to support Buhari ahead of the February 14th election.
APC and PDP
As it’s few days to the Presidential election, it has shown that many who were in support of President Goodluck Jonathan has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress, to support the former General and a dictator, Muhammadu Buhari.
Possibly out of anger, the wife of the controversial activist took to her Facebook page to curse those who have decided to join the northerners against the southerner.
Since President Jonathan showed interest in second term, Nigeria has been divided along political, religious and religion line ahead of the election.
Th North has boasted that blood will flow if Buhari does not win, while the South has equally vowed to set the nation on fire by destroying the national income (oil pipeline) if Jonathan failed to return to Aso rock.
According to the post on Mujahidat’s Facebook wall, those who betrayed Jonathan will be put to shame after he won the election. she said “The north has ganged up against the south east the south south and other minorities in Nigeria .
This fight is not against Goodluck Ebele Jonathan its pure hatred against the goose that lays the golden eggs. As for the wicked and ignorant south, westerners who have decided to form alliance with the north to truncate the transformation agenda of Jonathan, history will forever remember them and their offspring’s as betrayals of the south, and it shall never be well with them.
“From all indication when the results start trickling in on February 14th Jonathan will win with a landslide .victory and all enemies of democracy will be put shame”
ABUJA – Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force, NDPSF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari has again stated that desperate politicians from the northern Nigeria are ungrateful parasites who have not appreciated the south and especially the Niger-Delta for depending on their oil proceeds over the years.
Asari’s outburst was a reaction to the comments recently made by the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido that staunch supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan such as Asari and Chief Edwin Clark were making incisive statements in their bid to secure a second term for Jonathan.
Lamido had in his statements decried the candidacies of Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and General Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressives congress, APC.
He was quoted as saying that the duo were capable of setting Nigeria ablaze with their ambition.
But reacting to the statement, Asari who was also the former national President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC and Jonathan’s kinsman in a telephone chat with Vanguard said that the north was bleeding over their loss of political power.
He stated that until the zone disabuse its mind from the mentality of “born to rule”, they would continue to meet stiff resistance from their southern counter-part.
“The president will win. There is no other option. If they contest they are wasting their time. He who pays the piper will dictate the tune. We own them. We are feeding them. They are parasites. A beggar has no choice. In all religions, in Islam, every where… if you are a beggar, you will respect the one who gives to you. They are beggars and parasites.”
Ex-militant and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, hinted at what appeared a spectre of violence Wednesday, with a threat of lawsuit or “self-help” against Lai Mohammed, the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for claiming he helped transport $9.3 million cash for arms purchase in South Africa.
Dokubo
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES exclusively Wednesday, Mr. Asari said he will adopt a civilised response to Mr. Mohammed by first suing the APC spokesperson for his remarks.
He however warned that should the courts fail to deliver justice, he will resort to self-help by using his hands and any other means to deal with Mr. Mohammed.
“After all the South Africa People have given the names of people on the plane and if by next week we go to court and the court is being manipulated not to give me justice, I will resort to self-help,” he said.
“I have the capacity to resort to self-help. I will not give anybody any apology because if a man has mouth to malign me then I can use what I have to fight for myself.”
Asked to clarify on the nature of self-help, the NDPVF leader said, “When the time comes you will know. The man doesn’t have the right to malign me. If a man has the right to use his mouth and hand to malign me and libel people, and any other man has the right to use his hand and any other means to get justice.”
Mr. Asari’s threat followed unsubstantiated claim by the APC listing him as one of two Nigerians who travelled alongside an Israeli, with $9.3m cash, for arms purchase in South Africa.
The South African government confiscated the huge sum as “proceeds of illegal transaction”, saying it was not declared at the airport.
Authorities there, like the Nigerian government, have refused to release the names of the two Nigerians who took part in the failed deal.
In an earlier press release, the APC spokesperson, Mr. Mohammed, quoting reports by some blogs, alleged that Mr. Asari was one of the unidentified Nigerians on the private jet that ferried the cash to South Africa.
Mr. Asari denies being part of the trip.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, the former militant leader said he had not been to South Africa since 2002, and challenged journalists to confirm with that country’s embassy in Nigerian if he was granted visa to travel.
He said he was being targeted because of his support for President Goodluck Jonathan to secure a second term in office.
“So the onus of proof is on him. I will fight him with any means available to me. He manufactured a lie against me, and he orchestrated it,” he said. “If they want to win an election they should go and face Goodluck and win election not to pull down GEJ supporters.”
The NDPVF leader said his traducers failed last year to silence him after they alleged that he was a sponsor of the Boko Haram sect.
He claimed his critics went to Cotonou, the Benin Republic capital, and sent reports to INTERPOL alleging that he was a leader and sponsor of the sect.
“They failed last year in November. I went to the SSS on my own. The next one (they said) I’m in South Africa for arms and for money laundering which are international crimes. After that they brought Rex (his younger brother) picture and immediately they transformed Rex to Mohammed Yusuf with Ayo Oritsejafor and that we are there together,” he said.
“How long will they continue to malign me? Whatever means I have to reclaim my name and stop them from disturbing me. Anything that will redeem my name, I will do it.”
He also lambasted a former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari for showing interest in the 2015 presidential race.
Mr. Dokubo-Asari, who spoke to this newspaper few hours after Mr. Buhari formally signified his intention to contest the presidential election on the ticket of APC, said the former head of state who had contested for the position on three previous occasions, would fail in his fresh bid and would be disgraced.
“Buhari declared for presidency, he will fail as he always fails, this time he will fail more. He has always been disgraced,” he said.
Mr. Dokubo-Asari, a die-hard supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan, alleged that the former head of state stage-managed the assassination attempt on him (Buhari) last August, asking, “Someone who has staged-managed an assassination on his life what else can he not do?”
He regretted that because of the incident, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, demanded his (Dokubo-Asari) arrest even though he was not in any way involved in the incident.
According to him, it was even more painful that the Speaker never called for the arrest of prominent northerners who had at different times made inflammatory remarks about the nation.
He added, “Buhari staged-managed an assassination attempt that killed over 100 people in Kaduna after that they produced somebody. Anyone who has been involved in the military activities will know when something is stage managed.
“His own story indicted him and roped him in. In any civilised country, he will be arrested. He said the bombers chased him until they rammed into his car instead of his car to be badly damaged it was people farthest away from the bomb that died or had more damages. Buhari came down.
“Anyone who knows the story of bomb blast, anybody at the vicinity of a blast will be evacuated because there might be a secondary explosion and the second explosions can be more deadly. And Buhari came down in his immaculate white. He was not afraid. Suddenly, somebody just appeared and said they caught the person that planted the bomb and he said it was Asari that sent me (and that) he gave us N5million. Where are the rest four people?”
placing the life of one Nigerian above the over 80 persons who died in the incident was wrong
The Leader of Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, on Tuesday slammed President Goodluck Jonathan over his comment that Nigeria would have boiled if a former Head of State Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) had died in the Kaduna blast.
He also exonerated himself from the allegation that he paid the alleged masterminds of the Kaduna blast N5m to carry out the attacks, saying people were out to tarnish his image.
While describing the President’s comment as unnecessary, he stated that placing the life of one Nigerian above the over 80 persons who died in the incident was wrong.
“I do not work for Jonathan. What the President said was wrong. The life of Buhari is not more important than 87 people that died in that blast. It is unfortunate that the President made such a statement. I wonder why the President will be promoting one person above other Nigerians. That statement from the President was very unfortunate. I do not have the capacity to tell the President to apologise, but I still insist that he should not have made such a statement,” Dokubo-Asari told journalists on Tuesday in Abuja.
He recalled that, “Soon after the blast, a cross-gender person came out and was arrested. Even the mother of the person arrested said he was insane. Social media reports said I gave them N5m to carry out the attack. These things are masterminded. The first one is against President Jonathan and the other one is against me.
“I did not pay anybody to carry out any assassination attempt on Buhari. I do not have anything against him. He is not a threat. He will fail in 2015. For the records, I do not operate a Twitter account and anyone saying I tweeted that there would be more attacks is only using my name.”
Dokubo-Asari also raised the alarm that all the calculated attacks on him were geared towards shutting him up ahead of the 2015 presidential election.
He said, “They want to silence me because they know the role I will play in 2015. They have also sponsored reports in Benin Republic that I am the person financing Boko Haram. Another Islamic scholar also said I am the one sponsoring Boko Haram to destroy the North on behalf of President Jonathan.
Dokubo-Asari also alleged that the late leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, funded Buhari’s elections in 2011.
He said, “In March 2010, I was a guest of Maummar Gaddafi. He told me that Sule Armah and Buba Galadima were in Libya ahead of the 2011 elections. Gaddafi told me that he had been funding Buhari’s elections in the past. I want the Department of State Security to investigate if these names I have mentioned were not in Libya during the period I am talking about.”
But a Buhari’s ally and a former spokesperson for the defunct Congress for Progress Change, Alhaji Buba Galadima, said Dokubo’s allegations were unfounded.
In this concluding part of the interview with a former militant leader, Dokubo-Asari, he speaks on how he became radicalised and his many encounters with the authorities.
During the anti-SAP riot, after the demonstration in Jos, students in the University of Calabar also demonstrated. We were demonstrating outside the main campus when the police started shooting. And there was a female student, Nnenna, behind me. She was shot. She fell. I started wondering. I was taller than she was. How come she got shot standing behind me? How did the bullet pass me to hit her? I carried her with all the blood and everything. Though it was not fatal. From that day, I decided inside me that the Nigerian state must be made to explain to the people, to my people especially, what they are doing with the resources of the people. As a law student, many laws tell us, he who owns the land owns everything in the land. And I asked myself, how come the resources of my people now belong to everybody? That was the turning point in my life. In 1988 when I was rusticated from the University of Calabar, I decided to go to Libya. So, I left home. I converted to Islam. I took the bath and became a Muslim at the Calabar Central Mosque which was managed by some Yoruba people. I became radicalised after I became a Muslim. One goal I set for myself was the liberation of my people and I wanted a military.
As the President, National Union of Rivers State Students, I had read so much about revolution and my greatest attraction was Libya; that is why I decided to go to Libya. So, I took a night bus from Calabar and dropped at Jos. From Jos, I proceeded to Kafanchan, then to Saminaka, down to Leri, Zaria, until I got to Kano. From Kano, I passed through Dutse. Then Damaturu was a small town. I got to Maiduguri. From Maiduguri to Marite. I was just going until I got to Gamboringala. From there I got to Gambori France. From there to Kusiri to Jamina to Eir, Eir to Agadese in Niger Republic. It was easy for me as a Muslim because I joined them to pray. I saw many deaths on the road. People wanted to go to Europe and so on. When I couldn’t enter Libya at that time, I had to come back.
My father had secured a new admission for me at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. So I had to go back to the university to continue my law programme. From that radicalization, I started to join different groups. I set up one called CCC – Committee of Collective Conscience – a Marxist movement for change in our society and I started talking to people. When I went back to school, I discovered I had lost interest in formal education. From then, I started confronting state authority. I aligned with progressive forces. But you know, I really don’t see any progressive force in Nigeria. I was in PSP. From there, I went to Peoples Front formed by by Yar’Adua. From there, I joined the NCP. I became a little bit prominent in the party because of my ideological stand. After the wrongful annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, and the role I played during the election, I began to think more and more about confronting the Nigerian state militarily. And I believed that was the only way freedom could come to our people. And that was the period the Ijaw started gathering because of the movement that was going on in Ogoni land. It influenced Ijaw people. I joined the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta. I aligned with them and put in my contribution into what T.K. Ogoriba was doing. It, it metamorphosed into the Ijaw Youth Council (IYM), the Kaiama Declaration. But before then, we had formed another group named Kirimani which was more military than civil. But a lot of our people do not understand the ideological thrust of our struggle and we formed other organizations. We found there was a lot of injustice in the Nigerian state and some of us could not stomach it. So, I became a regular guest of the State Security Service (SSS) and the police and sometimes the military because when we went out to carry out a march, the police will come. We also had confrontations with the army. So, I became a regular face with the State Security Service. During NADECO, the role I played is well known to the people who were in the group. I always like to be on the side of the people. The struggle has become my life.
Specifically, did you decide to take this path of life because of the shooting back in the University of Calabar or were there some other incidences?
The Calabar incident was the first time I was seeing life bullets, canisters of tear gas flying. It was the first time because, being the son of a legal practitioner; at that time, my father was the Director of Public Prosecutions in Rivers State, and, having lived in Government Reserved Area for a very long time, my experience with the outside world was very minimal. As a young man, yes, we interacted in school but after school you run home. A driver comes to pick you and so on and so forth. I was not living in boarding house or alone. I was living with my parents. But it was in school that I came to realize that this struggle we were involved in, you could just die. Whether you were really involved or not, you could just die because the lady behind me was not throwing any stone. She was not doing any thing. We who were in the front, singing, shouting, clapping and jumping, the bullet did not touch us.
So, basically, what really motivated you?
What motivated me was my encounter with those things that happened and my encounter with Adaka Boro. I read Boro’s 12 Days Revolution. After reading Boro’s and Simon Ambakarderemo’s book on Isaac Adaka Boro, a play, I decided that I wanted to follow the path that Boro followed. With the activism in school and the principal position that I took in most of the cases, it became very clear that the only way we could solve these problems was by arms struggle. But arms struggle has been suspended for some time now. For instance, have we made any dividends? Has any concession been made to us? Are our enemies not emboldened now? For one, I believe that one gun shot is more effective that a thousand years of dialogue, a thousand years of talks and endless negotiations, a thousand years of persuasion and sermonization. One gunshot is more effective.
Even when it involves the death of human beings?
Yes! Because if a man takes your right, he has killed you. If a man takes your property, he has killed you.
So, how would you place what Boko Haram members are doing now because they are carrying arms too?
I cannot speak for Boko Haram for whatever reason they are fighting. If they are fighting because they want to impose their ideology on other people by force and the people fold their arms and allow them, why would you blame them? Did they tie the people’s hands? What they are fighting is not a good fight. It is not, because you have to respect every other person’s belief. You have to respect every other person’s ideology whether you like it or not because this is a multi-ethnic nation. There are so many nations that are involved in this country. So, it is multi-national.
Your struggle then was full of risks. How was it like leading a group of young men in the creeks?
It is one of the most delicate and dangerous phases of my life. Having lived in GRA, Port Harcourt with so many people, and now chose to go to the fishing port to stay where there were no birds, where when there was high tide, water would enter, sometimes snakes will be hanging on the ceiling, there was even no ceiling, it was just the thatched roof; the sticks that cris-cross to support the house will make the snake, maybe python to be hanging, you will see water entering and you are staying there; it is completely different from the life of somebody who was living at Ernest Ikoli Str, Old GRA, very close to Government House or at Akassa Str. It is quite different. No light. No pipe borne water. No nothing.
Did you have any encounters with the army?
Yea. It was a hide and seek game. The military is looking for you and you are looking for the military. Sometimes, you come to a truce. The military sees you they don’t shoot you, they pretend they are not seeing you. You too, you don’t shoot them, you pretend you are not seeing them. And then, when the people in Abuja say ‘where were you when they said there was Operation Locust Feast’, the military will come. They want to prove a point. They want to shoot. Sometimes, they would call us and say, ‘Please, we are just doing our work o.
We are actually doing our work o. You want to shoot and kill us. We too we will not agree’. Then they will shoot and there will be a battle. One thing leads to another and it is just a ding dong – this way, that way and it became more and more dangerous. The then Rivers Governor Odili had his Malaysia. The Malaysia is looking for you. They were even more than the military. So, you are tackling the military and the state sponsored Malaysia. So, every day it was about death.
There was an incident. One day, we were coming from St. Batholomew River. We were passing through the creeks to Idaman, one of the oil producing communities. We had almost reached the centre of Sombryo trying to enter New Calabar River when we saw two naval gun ships as they were coming. There was no way they will not stop us. We were armed. We were just three persons in the boat: myself, my cousin, Dakaro, who is late and another cousin of mine who was driving. As if something instigated me, I put my hand in the water and I started raining curses on the deity of Kalabari. I said, ‘Today, you will be disgraced for ever. Today, you will be ashamed. Your land will be conquered and ravished. I think you said you are a god’. After I did that, I threw the water into the sky and day turned into night. Darkness was moving as if it was propelled by something. And it covered the whole sky. And the naval gunships passed us. Their wave was tossing us up and down. They didn’t see us. They even had lights on. After about 30 minutes, the darkness cleared. No drop of rain. Nothing.
There are so many encounters that one had seen. You see these injuries on my body; my friend, my companion, very close aide; the bomb we were carrying exploded and his head got cut off. I did not die and I was standing close to him. Nothing happened to me. Just these injuries.
Would you say that God has been so gracious to you?
Wow! I don’t even know how to say it. If I was not a believer in God, I will say that this God has been partial towards me. He has been terribly partial towards me because I never thought I will be alive by now to live up to 50. How is that possible? I could have died on my way to Libya. I could have died in the creeks. All the plot and plan, I would have died long time ago. But I did not die. All the 70 something arrests, yet I did not die.
Do you think Boko Haram was designed to stop President Jonathan?
Initially, Boko Haram had nothing to do. But now, Boko Haram has become more of a modern political movement geared towards supporting the northern Gambari hegemony, over and above all of us. When you say Boko Haram, look at the killing that is going on and people say give amnesty to people who have murdered so many people. So, when you grant amnesty to them, another group of people will come up. It is a vicious circle. That is why when they wanted to start this amnesty bribe in the Niger Delta, I said it was wrong and immoral to do it. Amnesty for what? Pardon for what? What crime have the people committed? So, now you move from people whose crimes were minor, who were stopping the production of oil and gas to now people who are killing people, committing mass murder and then some people come out because no body in their family has been killed to call for amnesty and then the presidency wants to buy peace? Any peace that is bought cannot last.
So, what do you suggest the Presidency should do?
Very clear. Meet them at the point where they want to meet with you, strength for strength. But for me, I don’t have any advice for any government because whatever Boko Haram is doing, it is also hitting us. Look, let me tell you (speaking Pidgin), all this matter go stop the day there is one bomb explosion in Warri or in Onitsha and 20, 30 people die and they say that bomb explosion na Boko Haram. That day na the day everything go scatter. Mark this word.
At 50 years, do you have any regrets?
A lot of regrets. Like Shakespeare said “there is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.” That is what I believe. A lot of times, we take a decisive step. Until we take decisive steps and, in most cases, one has not been … When you want to go forward, your people want you to go backwards. They want you to apply brakes. With the way we started, if the tempo of our struggle had continued, maybe today, Nigeria would have been history. But the elders and everybody said,`brake, brake’ and we kept on braking. But God has His own time. My advice to Nigerians on my birthday is that we should go for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). We should sit down and tell ourselves that we cannot live together. The on-going National Conference is rubbish.
He means different things to people. To some, he is a militant. To many others, he is a social crusader. But to several people in the Niger-Delta, especially the Ijaw community, his tribe, he is both a warrior and liberator. This is even as many people believe the former Ijaw Youth Council President and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, is enigmatic. The son of a former judge in Rivers State judiciary, Asari appears unstoppable in the fight to liberate his people. He clocked the golden age of 5O on June 1, 2014. In this interview, he tells the story of his many struggles amongst others. Excerpts:
Let us start with your many encounters with the law and arrests. We recall you were a regular guest to the offices of security agencies.
Arrest was a regular thing. I can’t really tell. I became used to arrest. In fact, the police and SSS in Port Harcourt, maybe they advised the government, saying ‘pls, just leave this guy alone. This guy, arrest no dey do am anything’. (Laughing and speaking in pidgin English). ‘Just leave him alone. The guy enjoys getting arrested’.
Yes, that was one of the greatest undoing of Obasanjo because he thought I could be cowed. Go and look at my trial videos. There is trial like that where the judge was put in the dock. I was the one questioning the judge. It is not possible. So, the government and Obasanjo really, really, really did not understand the type of person he was dealing with. May be in Nigeria, there were no such people then. Today, we have Boko Haram. So, a new group of people has started.
Were you ever taken to any dungeon…?
(Cuts in) I was in SSS underground for 10 months and 11 days in solitary confinement.
How did you cope?
I would have run mad. Many people did. But because I had memorized parts of the Koran, instead of talking to myself, I just recited the Koran. That was what kept me alive. If I had not memorized the Koran, I would have been mad. Talking to yourself is a different thing. But this one, you are reading, edifying your soul.
So, while in prison, did you get to meet with any of the people now linked to Boko Haram?
I met with so many people, not only Boko Haram militants. Yes, I met with a lot of them: Muda Shiru, Mohammed Isam, Yusuf Hussein, Asan Yusuf, Mohammed Bello.
Who were these people?
They were leaders of the group that is now called Boko Haram. They were arrested and repatriated from Libya.
Do you know if they are still alive?
Yeah. But some of them are no longer with them. Isam is no longer with them. I don’t have their contact. But I believe that the majority of those people may have been dead because we had very close relationship when we were in prison even though we didn’t see face to face. They were in their cells and I was in mine; so we hit the wall and talked. During prayers, we prayed together by shouting.
If that is the case, don’t you get to talk to them to broker ceasefire and all that or do we have new faces now?
No, no, no. It depends on government approach. Someone in government thought it could be wished away, that it was easy. Boko Haram? ‘It will fizzle away’ and all the warning we gave them, they did not accept. They misled the government into believing that it could be wished it away. If they had taken a decisive action at that time, I don’t think that this would have reached the stage it has reached now.
But a decision was taken on their leader, Yusuf Mohammed?
That was not the sort of decisive action. The killing of Yusuf Mohammed was a mistake. If Yusuf Mohammed were to die, he should have gone for trial. Nobody should use his whims and caprices as the law like what Saddam Hussein said “whatever I wrote with my hand, that is the law”. That was what Yar’Adua did. Why should you kill somebody extra-judicially? Take him to court if he had committed any offense. You have the laws. If they had followed due process, it would have mitigated what is happening. But they did not follow. They went outside the law. When you go outside the law, you are also telling the other person to also meet you outside the law.
The thinking in many quarters now is that these people are taking a revenge on the government while some people disagree, saying it is pure terrorism. You have also said they are acting on a wrong ideology. How do you reconcile all these?
Yea, they are acting on a wrong ideology but even if it was a revenge, Islam does not permit you to take people who are not combatants. When you take the lives of people who are not combatants, then you are not longer fighting the cause of Allah because Allah SWA clearly said in the Koran that if you kill an innocent man, it seems you have killed the whole world.
Let’s go back to the struggle. Do you think it has paid off?
Not 100 percent. Maybe 20 percent. We have somebody that looks like us, dresses like us, eats our food, dances the way we dance as President. It is a victory over those who feel that they were born to rule. Who says they are born to rule? It is a negation of that erroneous position.
But to everyone in Nigeria, the President is Nigeria’s President not an Ijaw President even though he is coming from that background.
Yes, it is true. But he came from somewhere. He did not fall from the sky.
The President has been accused of not really been presidential in the real sense of the word. Again, you have very many challenges bedeviling the country which many Nigerians had expected him to deal with decisively.
Yes, most of us feel that he has not done things the way they ought to be done. But there are individual differences. For instance, does Mr. President believe in things that the ordinary Ijaw man believes? The ordinary Ijaw man who was at the airport to bring the corpse of Isaac Boro; that the Ijaw nation must be liberated, must be independent? Do most of the elites share the same beliefs that we share? No.
Ok. Can you tell us what you feel about the Nigerian state?
The Nigerian state was built on falsehood, on false foundation and it cannot stand the test of time. The British fraudulently stole the sovereignty of various nations like the Kalabiri country, an independent state. We signed a treaty of protection with Britain. We never ceded our independence to them but they fraudulently included us in Nigeria without reference to the treaties they signed with our forefathers. So, that is a fraud. It is built on falsehood. It is built on fraud. So it cannot stand the test of time. It cannot stand the moral test, that’s why it will fall and it is falling.
You are quoted as saying that the abduction of the school girls in Chibok is a scam. Some people feel shocked by that statement coming from you even when we have seen the international community coming in…
(Cuts in) which international community? The United States of America with her allies Britain and the European Union cajoled the whole world and told us that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At the end of the day, were there weapons of mass destruction? There was none. So the international community for whatever intent and purpose that is compelling them to do what they are doing is best known to them. But it will not be far from economic interest. How can you believe that 270 girls will be taken? How? It is not possible. If you tell us that 20 girls were taken, 30, maybe 50, fine. How will you tell us that 270 girls were writing physics exam? How? In which school? Where? Even in the most educationally advanced part of this country, can you find any school where even 20 students are writing physics? I run a school. How many of my students are writing physics? They just finished their SSCE? And this is an elitist school, we make very good results. How many people are writing physics? Who are they telling? So, if you are not into education business, somebody can cajole you and tell you a lot of stories. When they took the students, the Principal, who said she thought they were soldiers, again said she was in Maiduguri for medical treatment when they came. Her daughter too was in the school. Why didn’t they take her daughter? Why did they take other peoples daughters? The military was aware four hours before the attack; the people who sent the information that Chibok was to be attacked four hours to the military, why did they not inform the chairman of Chibok, SSS Rep, DPO or anybody in Chibok? The Chibok community leader who has been talking, why didn’t they say, ‘Please, move the girls, we are suspecting that there was going to be an attack on the school? Move these children out of the school’. Why was it only the military they told? They couldn’t reach any other person but the military? What are they telling us now? Ok, today, one of the girls said she ran and jumped over the fence. She climbed the tree and then the man was saying come down, come down o’. What sort of thing is this now? So, the girl can climb a tree faster than a man with a gun? Why didn’t you just simply shoot her and he left her and went away? And some four persons were found in their house and they said they escaped and came back? What sort of stories?
You are known as one who insists that Mr. President must come back in 2015. With the array of turbulent issues in the country, do you see that happening still?
Look, Mr. President has won o. He has won the election. Just forget about it. All of them will just fizzle out. He will win and win clear for another four years, fair and square.
Now, what if he changes his mind not to contest as he has not even declared?
He cannot do that?
What if he does it?
(Speaking in Pidgin English) Where him go come naa? If he do am, where him go return naa? Niger-Delta land? Him go stay for Abuja with them naa when him finish. Him go come carry us reach for center of the river, then, him go come jump enter river, leave us without paddle? Carry our paddle jump inside river, come leave us for inside boat for center of ocean? Ah! No o.
How has it been in the last 50 years you have lived?
Ah! My life at 50. My experience. How am I going to put it? Well, I got into the university at the age of 21 in 1985; the University of Calabar. And from that age of 21, death became my constant companion at every turn. (Vanguard)
PORT HARCOURT – LEADER of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Asari Dokubo has described the alleged abduction of female students of Government Girls Secondary school, Chibok, Borno state by Boko Haram as a scam.
Asari who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt at an event to mark Isaac Adaka Boro’s day said the governor of Borno state and some top northern opposition politicians knew the whereabout of the girls.
Leading hundreds of I jaw youths on a protest march through major roads in Port Harcourt Asari said no conspiracy would stop President Goodluck Jonathan from running a second term in the country.
Continuing, he said the protest was a march towards freedom, stressing that the ex militant leaders were solidly behind President Jonathan.
“our enemies are not sleeping; but we will take the battle to the enemies where ever they are.. they have been tempting us; and pushing us;
Today is a great day, not only in our lives, but also In the history of the Niger delta, perhaps, this may be the greatest day in the Niger delta; this is because we are going to demonstrate to the world how and what we feel about oppression.
Our political office holders have not learned how to stand and fight; at all times, they shift ground to those who have sworn to make us play the last fiddle; those who have told us to our face that they were born to rule; while we were born to be ruled; I wish to restate that I was not born to be a drawer of water or hewer of wood; I was born to be equal to all others; no matter who they are; or where they come from.; how long shall we wait while strangers take their turns to exploit, exclude and marginalize us; with all the painful sacrifices we made”, he said.
Asari who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt at an event to mark Isaac Adaka Boro’s day said the governor of Borno state and some top northern opposition politicians knew the whereabout of the girls.