After much pressure on the State Security Service (SSS) from Nigerians and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the secret police agency has finally arrested Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) over some alleged treasonable statements he made recently.
Though details of the arrest were sketchy at the time of this report, Dokubo-Asari had recently demanded that the APC must produce its candidate for the Presidency from the Niger-Delta and that if this is not possible, Nigerians must allow President Goodluck Jonathan serve a second term or there would be war.
“If it is war the North wants, we are ready for them because Jonathan must complete the mandatory constitutionally allowable two terms of eight years. At home, we have regrouped and we have put our people at alert”, he had said on television.
“In less than one hour, the way we would strike, the world will be shocked. If anybody does anything against Jonathan, we will retaliate. What we will do will shock the whole world. We will cripple the economy of the country not only in the creeks, but also on the nation’s territorial waters, no vessel will be allowed to enter Nigeria’s territorial waters.
“Let them not try anything. If they abuse Jonathan, there is no problem; he is their President but anything that will affect the interest of the Ijaw people and the interest of the entire people of the Niger Delta will be resisted at any cost. Let them go and sleep in their houses. If they don’t, they are looking for trouble and we are going to give it to them.
“It will make better sense if APC picks its presidential candidate from the South- South. With that, there will be no battle for us to fight and it will make it easier for us. Whichever way it goes, it will enable us to continue our right of uninterrupted rule of eight years, which is the minimum constitutional requirement”.
The statement attracted opprobrium from Nigerians, many of whom believe this statement is not worse than the one credited to former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, for which he was recently arrested and detained by the SSS.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as reckless, irresponsible and totally condemnable the threat by controversial leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples volunteer Force, Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo to levy war against Nigeria even if President Goodluck Jonathan is defeated even in a free and fair election in 2015.
In a statement issued in response to the threat, National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had lamented that despite the attacks by oil militants in the Niger Delta and the ongoing insurgency by Boko Haram in some parts of the north, Nigeria has not witnessed a clearer and louder call to war than Asari-Dokubo’s senseless vituperation since the country’s civil war ended in 1970.
APC added that Nigerians are waiting to see what the SSS, which recently detained for many hours its deputy national secretary, Nasir El-Rufai over his warning against election rigging in 2015, will do now that an ally of President Jonathan has threatened the very existence of Nigeria by saying he and his fellow militants would cripple the economy of the country not only in the creeks but also in Nigeria’s territorial waters.
“What on earth gave Asari-Dokubo the confidence to issue threats against a whole nation? If he doesn’t care about elections and democracy, how else could his hero, President Jonathan, have come to power? Does he know the meaning of anarchy? Does he think anyone, no matter how big, is more important than his country or bigger than its constitution?” the party queried.
“When he said President Jonathan ‘must complete the mandatory constitutionally-allowable two terms of eight years’ or the militants will make Nigeria ungovernable, was he aware that even the North that has become his favourite whipping boy did not complete its own eight years before his kinsman became President?
“It is not Asari-Dokubo’s fault. When we warned against the handover of the nation’s maritime security to a company owned by an ex-militant in 2012, many thought we were crying wolf where none existed. But the threat by an ex-militant to ensure that no vessel will be allowed to enter the nation’s territorial waters unless President Jonathan is re-elected has shown the dangers inherent in such actions.
“There is no better test of the fairness, non-partisanship and professionalism of the SSS than this Asari-Dokubo’s threat to levy war on his own country. If Asari-Dokubo is not above the laws of the land, he must be hauled before the SSS, just like the service did to our Deputy National Secretary, to explain his statement”.
