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Tag: Dokubo

  • Tukur to Asari Dokubo: stop threatening war over 2015 poll

    Tukur to Asari Dokubo: stop threatening war over 2015 poll

    The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has cautioned ex-Niger Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, and others threatening to go to war if President Goodluck Jonathan does not get re-elected in 2015.

    Speaking with reporters at the party’s secretariat yesterday, Tukur said it is wrong for anyone to make such threats over election, adding that democracy is about people making a free choice through the ballot.

    Former Niger Delta militant, Dokubo and the Special Adviser to the President, Mr. Kinsley Kuku, were in separate statements penultimate week, quoted to have said that the people in the Niger Delta region would go to war if President Jonathan failed to secure re-election in 2015.

    Tukur said there was no reason for such threats as the present administration would guarantee free and fair elections.

    He stressed that election is a competition in which the people are allowed to freely choose their leaders at the poll.

    According to him, in a free and fair election, there is no reason for losers or any group to threaten war if their preferred candidate does not win.

    He said: “Elections should be a free and fair affair. So, it is wrong for anyone or group to threaten to go to war over election. It is about people making their choice.

    “Everyone is free to offer himself for election, but it is the duty of the people to choose whoever they want.”

    The party chair described the ongoing merger arrangement among opposition parties as a healthy development for the nation and its democracy, stressing that political groups should be allowed to express their wishes and preferences.

    “But let us wait to see their manifesto whether it will address the wishes, fears and expectations of the Nigerian people,” Tukur added.

    He said under the PDP government, every political group or association has the right to express its wishes, adding, however, that in doing this the unity and stability of the nation should be treated as sacrosanct.

    Tukur said the PDP cannot pretend to be the only party in the country, although it has its presence in the 774 local governments.

    Said he: “The PDP government will continue to provide a level playing field. That’s how to ensure justice, equity, patronage and progress. We are not distracted by the activities of the merging opposition parties.

    “The PDP will find out what other parties are doing and make adjustments to serve Nigerians better.”

  • Asari-Dokubo’s unguarded comments

    Asari-Dokubo’s unguarded comments

    SIR: The recent comments by the ex-militant and leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Asari- Dokubo, have further exposed both the Federal Government’s and the nation’s security agencies’ selective attitudes in crime prosecution in the country. Recall that few weeks ago, some journalists from the Leadership were arrested, detained and subsequently charged for an offence bothering on treason, by Nigerian Police over a publication, which Aso Rock found damning to its regime. But staring before our very eyes is a clear case of treason and the same Police and it’s Aso Rock paymasters are carrying on as if nothing has happened. Or what other evidence do our security agencies need to know that an utterance such as Dokubo’s, which tend to threaten the corporate existence of the country is a criminal act?

    In a saner clime, Asari- Dokubo would have been cooling off in detention for such statement of war against the country. He would have been quizzed and charged to the appropriate court for the provocative comments that Nigeria and Nigerians would know no peace if his kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan was not re-elected in 2015. Expectedly, neither Dr Doyin Okupe nor Dr Reuben Abati has issued a statement or in their usual styles addressed the press on the ex-militant’s statement. The reason, of course, is that the man is making their jobs -of promoting the President’s 2015 ambition-easier. And it doesn’t really matter to them whether such promotion works against the unity and indivisibility of the country, the generality of Nigerian populace or not.

    Every lover of peace and unity of this country must add a voice of condemnation against Dokubo’s drum beat of war. His highly sensational comments that “…there will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere if (president) Goodluck Jonathan is not president in 2015, except if God takes his life…”, should not be dismissed as a mere threat, not when the ex-militant had gone further to call the bluff of the National Assembly for “daring” to pass a resolution mandating the security agency to investigate his highly inflammatory comments.

    Dokubo’s attempt to justify his comments on the ground that some persons in the past equally made similar statements and nothing was done to them was like turning logic on its head. Assuming, without conceding the fact, that the duo of Gen Mohammed Buhari and one Farouk Aliyu (as he claimed) made such statements, it would still not be enough to exonerate the ex-militant from the criminal liability which his comments carry. No individual, however highly placed, can take law into his hands. It suffices, also, to state that one does not justify a wrongful act by committing another wrong.

    The self-styled Ijaw leader should have known by now that nobody or region is indispensible in Nigeria. He should have been properly guided by the country’s political history that Nigerians are never stampeded into submission by such a cowardice and provocative utterances.

    It is, indeed, gratifying that the respected elder-statesman, Edwin Clarke, has reminded him that the country would neither break nor hell gets loosed if President Goodluck Jonathan loses re-election in 2015.

    • Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Lagos

     

  • Dokubo, Kuku et al

    Dokubo, Kuku et al

    Outrage over statements by two key personages from the Niger Delta on the likely outcome of the 2015 elections should President Goodluck Jonathan fail to make it, is to be expected. The duo of Asari Dokubo, a repentant militant and Kingsley Kuku, special adviser to the president had at different occasions threatened dire repercussions for the country if Jonathan is not returned to power come 2015.

    They were reported to have said that the country will know no peace if Jonathan is not returned as president of the country. Even with the denial by Kuku that he did not say there will be a return to violence in the Niger Delta if Jonathan did not make it, not many are persuaded that he did not author the statement credited to him. This is more so as Dokubo has not denied his own version.

    There is the feeling that coming the way they did, those statements should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. That perhaps accounts for the condemnations that have trailed them. Even then, such inciting statements are neither entirely new nor limited to the Niger Delta region.

    Before now, two northern leaders Adamu Ciroma and Lawal Kaita had issued threats insisting that the north must produce the president in 2015 else there will be dire consequences. Apart from these, there have equally been inciting statements from some other quarters on the 2015 elections and their possible outcome should things not go the way expected.

    Coming on the heels of earlier predictions that the Nigerian state might fail by 2015, these recurring threats must be a serious cause for worry. It is only hoped that we are not walking the path of self-fulfilling prophesy. But more importantly, the threats expose the nature of desperate politics we play in this country. They speak volumes on what progress or lack of it has been made in our quest for national integration in the last 52 years of our independence. Above all, we are being exposed to the motivational and propelling reasons for our pattern of political competition. And central to all is prebendalism-the quest for political power for the sole aim of satisfying ones immediate families and primordial interests. That is why the South-south is threatening fire and brimstone should their kinsman Jonathan fail to make it again. That is why the north is laying strident claims to power in 2015. And it is for the same reason other sections that have not taken a shot at the presidency are equally fighting for it.

    Implicit in all these struggles, is the feeling that it is by electing one of yours into strategic national offices that the interests of that section can be adequately protected. It also exposes the fact that we are yet unable to build national leaders and national institutions. Our people are yet to repose confidence in the capacity of our political leaders to rise above sectional, ethnic and primordial predilections despite pontifications to the contrary. By the same token, they are yet to come to terms with the reality that the resources of the country will not be disproportionately deployed to service sectional interests.

    So how do we expect this country to make any meaningful progress with such a ruinous political culture? How can meaningful development take place with the subsisting suspicion, mistrust and in-fighting among the component units? These are the issues to ponder especially when it is recalled that the spate of insecurity in the country is directly tied to events of the last presidential primaries of the ruling party.

    Is it not surprising that the credentials being bandied by all those threatening the country should their region fail to produce the next president are predicated on ethnic interests? Both Dokubo and Kuku are flaunting their Niger Delta credentials while Ciroma and Kaita are talking of northern interests. So where do we locate the Nigerian interest within this cacophony in sectional voices? That is the question to ponder. The issue is not just that sectional considerations dominate our perception of the power equation in this country but they now constitute serious threat to its continued survival.

    It is even more pondering that the feeling is permeating that political power can be cornered through threats by the component units. Ironically too, these threats are not limited to the political front. The dreaded Boko Haram religious sect that has been levying war on the country in the past two years had issued such threats. In its case, it is championing the institution of an Islamic state in the country for which it asked southerners to leave the north. The attacks on churches and southerners before now were predicated on its commitment to have its warped agenda come through. Even as we condemn the Niger Delta chieftains for threatening hell if Jonathan does not return for a second term, such inciting statements are not new in our political chessboard. As a matter of fact, they are fast assuming the necessary and sufficient conditions for groups within the country to seek accommodation and relevance from those who hitherto dominated its leadership. It is also very interesting that northern chieftains have also fallen for the same tactics. What matters now it would seem, is no longer merit or competence but the geo-political zone which the leader comes from. This is where this country has just found itself and that is very unfortunate. Perhaps, what all these underscore is the point that has been severally canvassed on the need for us to take another look at the basis for our continued stay as a country. Before now, several well meaning Nigerians have rooted for a national conference or its sovereign variant to determine Nigeria’s future. Those who make these calls hinge them on the imperative to resolve once and for all, the contentious issues of our federal structure so that the country can progress in an atmosphere devoid of their disruptive influences. But each time these issues are raised, those who purport to be the conscience of this country stridently oppose the idea. However, the issues that give rise to such calls refuse to disappear. Is it not time we face reality and save this country the distractions it faces on account of our inability or outright refusal to square up to our nagging problems? Or why do we delude ourselves to the effect that all is well when in all actuality, the component units live in mutual distrust and utter suspicion. Why do we oppose fresh negotiations on how we can live in harmony and achieve faster development when each day, issues arising from this continue to stare us in the face? Is it not confounding that sectarian and primordial cleavages are now at an all time high despite our touted unity over the past 52 years?

    Perhaps, if we had addressed some of these problems through the conference, the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency which are serious threats to our nationhood would have been taken care of. Perhaps also, there would have been no need to resort to ad hoc amnesty palliatives for issues that would have been holistically tackled.

    It is therefore not enough to brood over threats from Niger Delta, Boko Haram, Arewa Forum, Oodua Peoples Congress and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra. That is how bad our inability to address issues of our collective being has taken us to.

  • 2015 and drumbeats of war

    2015 and drumbeats of war

    Ahead of the 2015 general elections, drumbeats of war are sounding as politicians are threatening fire and brimstone. AUGUSTINE AVWODE examines the implications of the heat for the polity.

    The sounds are ominous. Suddenly, 2015, which is still 20 months away, is already dressed in the toga of ‘decisive’ year. In the last few weeks, the nation has been jolted by utterances of party chieftains, and regional and ethnic jingoists on the preparations for the forthcoming general elections.

    Reminiscent of the 2007 elections, the 2015 elections are already being overshadowed by an incipient dangerous trend. In 2007 former President Olusegun Obasanjo was particular about winning the elections by all means, fair or foul. But the present ethnic agitation defiles party affiliation. It has assumed a campaign of sounding war drums threatening, not only peace in the Niger Delta, but also the corporate existence of Nigeria.

     Inflammatory statements

    Last month, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Kingsley Kuku, attributed the current relative peace and security in the oil rich Niger Delta region to the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan is still in the saddle. He was speaking at an interactive session with senior officials of United States Department led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum in Washington DC. He therefore sought his assistance of the US to persuade him to seek re-election in 2015.

    “It is true that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta.

    “Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth.

    “It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta,” Kuku asserted.

    The implication is that any day Jonathan ceases to be the President, violence and militancy would return to the region and the economy would lie prostrate again.

    If Kuku was diplomatic about the fate that awaits the country, if Jonathan was not returned as President in 2015, the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has no time for such niceties. Last week, he categorically declared that that there will be no peace, if Jonathan is not re-elected as the President in 2015. Dokubo-Asari spoke in Abuja when he addressed a press conference with a view to responding to criticisms which had trailed Kuku’s US statement.

    “There will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta, but everywhere, if Goodluck Jonathan is not the President by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for.

    “Jonathan has uninterrupted eight years of two terms to be president, according to the Nigeria constitution. We must have our uninterrupted eight years of two tenure, I am not in support of any amendment of the constitution that will reduce the eight years of two tenure that Goodluck Jonathan is expected to be president of Nigeria”, he said.

    But while Kuku had found time to clarify his call for Jonathan’s re-election, Dokubo-Asari has remained defiant. Kuku explained that his submission was borne out of his firm believe that Jonathan Administration has stabilised the nation’s economy and can do more if given the time to implement certain pacts signed with ex-militants in the region which will help in stabilising the fragile peace currently in place.

    “What I said in the U.S has been completely misrepresented. I spoke of the possibility of a degenerate Niger Delta if we do not value the fragile peace we have in the area today. I did not say that the Niger Delta will resort to violence if the President was not re-elected in 2015. I never said that and I couldn’t have said that”, he explained.

    Condemnation of war threats

    Expectedly, condemnation of the ‘no Jonathan, no peace in 2015’ has been massive. Speaking to The Nation, the Convener of Coalition of Northern Leaders, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said it was a “dangerous trend”. He challenged those behind what he called “threat and blackmail” to come forward. He claimed that Dokubo-Asari was pushed to the front to do what his sponsors wanted done but too afraid to do it themselves.

    Junaid challenged Nigerians to deal with those who are not only threatening democracy in Nigeria, but also the country as a whole now.

    He said the lack of “normal” democracy in Nigeria will make it difficult to deal democratically with those beating the drums of war in respect of 2015.

    “Clearly, this is a dangerous trend. When it has come to the extent of threatening and blackmailing people from other sections of the country to win election, then you know that the situation is bad. What those beating the drums of war are doing is to coerce and blackmail Nigerians to continue to vote for incompetent and corrupt people in government. The problem is the lack of normal democracy in Nigeria.

    “What I mean is that, if the electorate know that their votes will count, there is no amount of blackmail or intimidation that can stop the will of the people. But in Nigeria, they always subvert the will of the people. The electoral umpire is not helping the situation. In fact, one of them is a card carrying member of the party. Clearly we have to stand and fight for democracy by making sure that our votes count. What you have here is the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau. Those using them are behind. The people that are talking are working for those who cannot do what they have in mind by themselves. But we must deal with this dangerous trend now, and decisively so”, he said.

    Fear of opposition

    Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Publicity Secretary in Lagos State, Mr Joe Igbokwe simply urged Nigerians to ignore Dokubo-Asari. He said blackmail and threats cannot win elections.

    “Please let Nigerians ignore Dokubo-Asari over his comment on the 2015 election. Blackmail and threats can never win a debate for war mongers and history is my witness. In 2015, Nigerians will chase away the PDP from Abuja and all state capital notwithstanding the threats. We have passed this road before. Some years back, a close aide of the Pope then asked Josef Stalin to do something that will please the Pope. But Stalin was quoted as asking: The Pope who is asking to be pacified, how many battalions has he got? Now, how many battalions have those who are beating the drums of war?”

    Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, described the development as very embarrassing and a different kind of ethnic war lordism”.

    Speaking to The Nation, Aturu said the type of hegemony we are experiencing now is a backward type. “We are experiencing a different type of hegemony in Nigeria now that is most backward. It is a different brand of ethnic war lordism in the sense that, it must be embarrassing to the President because it has no merit, and no reason, but relies only on violence and it is destructive. It is unfortunate because some of the finest people of my generation are from this particular ethnic group.

    “It is unfortunate because a small segment has given it a colouration that is very damaging. And I believe that this is not a reflection of the thinking of the average Ijaw man. But this group seems bent on imposing their own ideology on the rest of the country and they are working towards the goal of ensuring that Nigeria doesn’t come out of it, if Jonathan is not returned as President. I think this is very absurd and unfortunate,” Aturu said.

    As a response to Dokubo-Asari’s threat, a former member of the House of Representatives and a chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change in Jigawa State, Farouk Adamu Aliyu, equally declared that there will be no more Nigeria if a Northerner is not elected as President in 2015. Analysts say it was a reaction that was borne out of anger.

    Veteran unionist, Chief Frank Kokori, while condemning the statement, urged people from the Niger Delta to talk less about Jonathan’s 2015 ambition, if any. He said he was sure that the President must have been so embarrassed by the comments credited to Dokubo-Asari.

    “I think the President must have been so embarrassed by the comment of Dokubo-Asari. It is an unguarded statement. People should learn to talk less about Jonathan and 2015. Everybody knows where Dokubo-Asari is coming from. It is only natural that he will always support the Jonathan Administratioin because from all indications, he has interests which he thinks would be better protected by a Jonathan Administration.”

    National concern

    The threat to peace and order has elicited national concern among federal lawmakers. Last week, the House of Representatives mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and National Security to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police on the comments made by Asari Dokubo-Asari and Kuku on 2015.

    The House urged the IGP, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar to invite both men for thorough questioning while condemning the statements credited to them. The decision followed a motion by Hon. Ali Madaki, a PDP lawmaker from Kano State which was unanimously adopted.

    According to him, if left unchecked the utterances credited to Dokubo was capable of creating disunity and disaffection among Nigerians. He said that while Nigerians were praying for peace, some were already out sowing seed of discord.

    On March 22, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Bamanga Tukur declared that his party had a pending war to fight. The party leader, who was on reconciliation tour of the Northwest zone, vowed that the PDP would not allow the carpet be swept off its feet. He emphasised the need for the party stakeholders to be united because, in his words, “there is a heavy war ahead in 2015”.

    He added that “a group has come up and wants to sweep the mat off our feet. We cannot allow that to happen. Because the PDP is the only party that is not religious, not sectional or tribal. We are one big party, and we intend, and we must remain so”.

    Analysts say the Adamawa-born politician should have been more circumspect in his choice of words. While conceding that Tukur could go to any length to emphasise his party’s readiness to triumph at the polls, they maintained that the choice of the image of war diminished whatever democratic credential the party claims to have.

    Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe later explained that it was nothing serious. He told senior journalists during a recent visit to The Nation’s headquarters that as the national chairman of the ruling party, he was not expected to fold his hands and watch other parties mobilize to overthrow his own party.

    “What do you expect him to do, fold his hands and watch others overthrow his party from office? No, he wouldn’t do that. It is in the context of the elections that will hold in 2015 otherwise, he doesn’t mean any harm”, he said.

    Can PDP lay good example?

    Critics have faulted Tukur because of the experience of 2007. Former President Obasanjo had made a similar ,but much clearer threat, during the build-up to the 2007 elections. In February 2007, during a meeting of PDP stakeholders in Abeokuta, Obasanjo said that the elections were a do-or-die affair for his party.

    “This election is a do-or-die affair for me and the PDP. This coming election is a matter of life and death for PDP and Nigeria.” The results went down as the worst in the history of electoral contests in Nigeria. It took the intervention of the courts to retrieve some of the states ‘captured’ by the party in that election. Many have begun to express reservations about the possibility of free and fair elections come 2015 given the sordid experience of 2007 and the threat to win 32 states by the PDP.

    It is not difficult to see why many Nigerians are worried. The country has going through trying times in the past two years, particularly, the activities of Boko Haram sect in the North. Apart from the trying period of the civil war, at no other time has Nigeria faced a problem which directly threatens its corporate existence like now. To steer the ship of state from the brink, where it is teetering dangerously now, words and acts that are divisive in nature must be avoided altogether. Importantly, with the report few years back that Nigeria may not survive the year 2015 as a single entity, many people are apprehensive that unless internal centripetal forces are properly managed, the worst could happen and authors of the report given opportunity to laugh. This, certainly, is the last thing Nigerians are praying for.

  • Dokubo, Kuku and the right to be obnoxious

    Dokubo, Kuku and the right to be obnoxious

    Drowned out by the outrage that greeted the atrocities at Baga, and later Bama, many would have missed an insightful contribution to the ongoing national discussion by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in faraway Geneva, Switzerland.

    Speaking as guest of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations last week, Atiku denounced what he called “the militarisation of democracy.” More than one decade after the end of military rule and the advent of constitutional democracy, he said the culture of political intolerance and impunity still pervades the country.

    He talked about how retired military officers, who came to power as politicians brought with them military mindsets, and in the process exacerbated the culture of intolerance and impunity.

    Atiku’s comments are pithy but not exactly novel. What he failed to add was that even civilians who have found themselves in positions of power, as well as their hangers-on, have quickly imbibed the worst character traits of our past military-politicians – turning what we practice in Nigeria into the worst form of ‘garrison democracy.’

    In this variant, orders are orders, and once an edict is issued from on high all lesser mortals are expected to fall in line. In this environment, independent-mindedness counts as treachery of the worst order.

    In addition to being allowed to crush the right to hold an opinion, the guardians of our democracy are also demanding to be allowed to dictate what sort of opinions we should hold. Political correctness is now rampant – so much so that a man has to lose his right to be foolish.

    The whole brouhaha over the comments made by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku; and retired militant leader, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, underscores how far we have descended.

    Kuku, at a recent meeting with United States officials in Washington, had controversially said: “The peace that currently prevails in the zone (Niger Delta) is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth. It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta.”

    Not to be outdone, the voluble Dokubo jumped into the fray with even more incendiary comments. “I want to go on to say that, there will be no peace, not only in the Niger Delta but everywhere if Goodluck Jonathan is not president by 2015, except God takes his life, which we don’t pray for.”

    He didn’t stop there. He vowed that unless the incumbent was re-elected in two years, he and other ex-militants who had been “resting” would swiftly return the creeks and their old ways.

    I can understand the “do or die mentality” that runs through the remarks of the likes of Dokubo because he and other one-time Niger Delta militant leaders have seen their lot dramatically transformed under the Jonathan presidency. Today, some of them are sitting over pots of cash “protecting” pipelines and patrolling waterways.

    It doesn’t require a soothsayer to predict that were a Pharoah who never knew Joseph to arise, the stream of cool cash will dry up as some of these dubious contracts will be swiftly cancelled. So it is understandable if Dokubo threatens to rain down fire and brimstone if his meal ticket is snatched away.

    I am certain though that he does not speak for millions in the Niger Delta whose lot has not been bettered under the regime of their “brother” Jonathan. Neither does he represent the millions who want to carry on in peace regardless of whether a particular individual loses or wins the 2015 polls. Statements by former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark and the Ijaw National Congress (INC) distancing themselves from the excitable comments of the twosome confirm this.

    For me the statements made by Dokubo and Kuku don’t make sense given the way the Nigerian constitution is rigged. In order to become president you must have strong support all over the country. That is why only broad-based parties ever find their way into power.

    It follows therefore that no matter how passionate some of Jonathan’s Ijaw supporters are they do not have enough AK-47s to hold to the heads of millions of voters in the five other zones of the country to browbeat them into voting for their favoured candidate. Truth be told: if Jonathan loses in 2015 the heavens won’t cave in – not even in Otuoke.

    That is why I amazed at the equally over-the-top reactions from certain Northern leaders and some members of the National Assembly. The House of Representatives quickly asked a committee to probe the comments. The increasingly loquacious Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, and a couple of others demanded the arrest of Dokubo. Some called for treason trials. For goodness sake!

    As some have rightly pointed out – many people from the north and elsewhere have said even more damnable things and no one has been arrested. The former Kaduna State Governor, Lawal Kaita, and a couple of others threatened in 2010 to make the nation ungovernable if Jonathan muscled his way to the presidency riding roughshod over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning arrangements.

    There are many who like the late National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi, believed that the rise in the insurgency in the north is intricately tied to the fall-out of the 2011 polls.

    What we need to understand is that in every democracy – even developed Western ones – there will always be people who verge on the extreme or out-rightly inhabit the lunatic fringe in the opinions they hold. If we are to develop our political system we cannot make them align their views with the mainstream by force.

    Rather than getting all excited over the unrealistic positions of one or two individuals, we should be thinking of how to de-militarise our politics and reduce the role of violence in the scheme of things.

    For as long as we continue to reward the violent with things: Boko Haram with amnesty, kidnappers with generous ransom and politicians using thugs with high office – our politics will never be transformed.

    In Nigeria today, the way to get things from the government and society is by violence or the threat of it. The northern insurgents understand this; ex-Niger Delta militants like Dokubo understand this – after all they wrote the manual.

    It is only when those who control the levers of power start to assert themselves in a proper way that extremists will regain their respect for the state and its institutions. But when we cave in to every extremist waving a gun and a threat, all they will have for the state is enduring contempt.

     

  • Reps urge IGP to probe Kuku, Dokubo’s statements

    Reps urge IGP to probe Kuku, Dokubo’s statements

    The House of Representatives yesterday urged Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar to investigate the Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Mr Kinsley Kuku, as well as former militant leader Alhaji Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo, for allegedly making statements that may cause disaffection amongst Nigerians.

    The resolution of the House followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion by a member, Ali Sani Madaki (PDP, Kano), on the urgent need to check the utterances of some Nigerians.

    The Niger Delta men’s statements were on the 2015 presidential elections.

    Kuku, at an event in the United States, reportedly declared that there would be chaos in Nigeria, if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected in 2015.

    Asari-Dokubo, at the weekend, reportedly said Nigeria should get ready for a war, if the President is not re-elected for another term.

    The House condemned the statements “in the strongest term” and mandated its Committee on Public Safety and National Security to liaise with the IGP. It urged the committee to keep the House abreast of any development on the matter.

    Madaki regretted that “while Nigerians are fervently praying for peace, some others are out sowing a seed of discord”.

    The lawmaker warned that if the type of inflammatory statements credited to Kuku and Dokubo are not checked, they are “capable of creating disunity and disaffection among the good people of Nigeria”.

     

  • 2015 poll: Reps to probe Dokubo, Kuku’s utterances

    2015 poll: Reps to probe Dokubo, Kuku’s utterances

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and National Security to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police on the comments allegedly made by Asari Dokubo and Kingsley Kuku on 2015.

    It urged the IGP, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar to invite Dokubo and Kuku for thorough investigation on their statements on President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election.

    The House also condemned the statements credited to the duo.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Dokubo and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Kuku, had said at different fora that unless Jonathan was returned as president in 2015, there won’t be peace in Nigeria.

    This resolution followed a motion by Rep. Ali Madaki (PDP-Kano), which was unanimously adopted.

    According to him, if left unchecked the utterances credited to Dokubo was capable of creating disunity and disaffection among Nigerians.

    He said that while Nigerians were praying for peace, some were already out sowing seed of discord.

    Madaki said that since the country became independent in 1960 and a republic in 1963, all differences had been buried.

    He said that for over three years now, security had become a challenge in the country as the Federal Government was partnering relevant stakeholders to arrest the situation.

     

  • Dokubo: power can’t shift to North in 2015

    Dokubo: power can’t shift to North in 2015

     The leader of the Niger Delta Volunteers Force (NDVF), Alhaji Dokubo Asari, spoke with AUGUSTINE AVWODE in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, on the presidential pardon for former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, national security and agitation for a national conference.

     

    What is your reaction to the presidential pardon for former Bayelsa State Governor Depriye Alamieyeseigha?

    The criticisms are mischevious. In the first place, the President has the right under the constitution to exercise the prerogative of mercy. And because the right to do this is constitutional, it makes the view of anybody, which may be to contrary, null and void and of no effect whatsoever because it is done on the basis of the right granted and protected by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Secondly, the whole world knows that the money stolen by Alamieyeseigha belongs to the people of Bayelsa State, his kith and kin. And the people of Bayelsa State have forgiven him long time ago and have rehabilitated him. In fact, the majority of Ijaw people feel that Alamieyeseigha was unjustly victimised. What we have discovered is that the majority of the people criticising the pardon because of politics stole much more than what Alamieyeseigha stole and they are walking free. The thinking here, if I must tell you the truth, is that our people have been used over time as sacrificial lamb. Go to any state and look into their financial records, come back and tell me if their money have never been stolen in a manner that is even worse than the celebrated case of Alamieyeseigha. What do you say of the people who are allowed to do plea bargaining and they are walking free? 2The Ijaw people feel they are being used as examples for the world that Nigeria is fighting corruption. But we are saying that, if we want to fight corruption, it should be holistic. All the governors who have ruled any state since 1999 should be brought and examined and interrogated and we would see how many saints are out there.

    You seem to be justifying Alamieyeseigha’s action? Is that not a vote in defence of corruption and corrupt practices?

    No. When Alamieyeseigha was governor, he was one of my greatest enemies. But be that as it may be, we have to forgive each other. And we know that that his conviction was manipulated by the Nigerian government under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Under Yar’Adua, many governors were given plea bargain, why was Alamieyeseigha not given plea bargain. Must he be convicted first? Look at the case of Cecilia Ibru. Why was she, first and foremost, convicted and others are given bail today, bail tomorrow, adjournment today and another one tomorrow. The picture I see is that of a plot to criminalise the people from the Niger Delta . It is an established pattern and it is not lost on us. All the people that stole money in the failed banks and so on, how many of them have been convicted? Why is it that it is only the people from the Niger Delta, why? This is the question we are asking. Unfortunately, they use our elite in government because of petty jealousy and hatred for each other to achieve their aims.

    If I may ask again, is your argument not a justification of corrupt practices because, clearly, that is the way many people will look at it.

    I said no, and I repeat no. Nobody is in support of corruption. I am not in support of it, it is evil, it is bad and we must oppose it. But when a pattern is established that it should be our people that must be disgraced while others walk free as their sins are covered up, we won’t accept it.

    Would you advise President Goodluck Jonathan to seek a second term in office in 2015?

    I am not a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member. But even though I am not a PDP member, we will have two terms of uninterrupted presidency and we are not going to compromise it. All we are saying is that you have been ruling and this time we want our eight years and we are getting it. It is a simple as that; there is no magic that will stop it and no amount of figure you cook up can change it. If you try to take it from us, we will stop you, period. Whether it is President Goodluck Jonathan or any other person, the Southsouth region will have eight uninterrupted years. It is a constitutional right for Goodluck Jonathan to go for a second term. He knows that, it should not take my advising him before he does what he knows too well. Besides, I am not one of his advisers. All the people that are talking, since 1956 when self-rule started in Nigeria, what have they done to change the face of the country like other countries that got independence with us at the same time like Malaysia, which was also a British colony like us; like Singapore; what have they done to change the fortune of the country?. What did the previous administrations do to change Nigeria to Kuwait, Qatar or Saudi Arabia or Turkey. What did they do that Jonathan has not done? The Benin/Shagamu Expressway has changed from what it used to be. Jonathan made it possible. Now, people travel smoothly on it. Our airports at a point in time were looking like slaughter houses. See what is happening in the airport or aviation sector today. Go to Kano Airport, I flew from there. Go to others airports across the country. The railway has been on its kneels for many years. Today, for the first time in many years, train goes from Lagos to Kano. These are evidence that people can not wish away.

    Many people are calling for amnesty for the members of Boko Haram sect. What is your view?

    I have a different view about what you call amnesty. What was given is simply bribe to some people so that that they could stop kidnapping foreign oil workers and allow for peace so that production of oil can continue without interruption. It was a bribe and many of us saw through it and did not accept it. I considered it a bribe to enable us jettison our struggle. So, for me, based on your question, I support amnesty for those who claim to be Muslims but they are criminals. Can they be Muslims? I doubt. They are falsely claiming to be Muslims. So, if you want amnesty for them, fine, give it to them because amnesty really, should be for only convicted people. Pardon them, no more fighting, JTF is no more looking for them, to that extent it is ok. But the question is, what name will you call it? If it is to stop their being arrested and prosecuted, well fine. But if it is to provide for the payment of stipends as bribe like it is done now to allow oil to flow, then we need to ask, what will flow from there? I am in total support of it. If it was given to one set of people for whatever reason, it should also be given to the other set of people for whatever reason.

    What is your position on the call for a national conference?

    I am all for it. There should be a Sovereign National Conference where we would sit down and the decision of this conference should be put to a plebiscite and the outcome upheld. If not, we are just postponing the doomsday. Because the people who are doing the killing in the North, they are daring others. And let me tell you, the consequences of what is happening now in the North, by the time it fully arrives, it will be too late for them. Take the case of the bombs that exploded in a luxurious bus park, killing many innocent people, and immediately, you get phone calls saying Alhaji, please don’t make any comments, otherwise, there will be reprisal attacks, the leadership of other groups in the Southeast and Southwest are called and told to exercise restraint. Well, I am saying that a time is coming when people will no longer be able to persuade others to keep quiet. A time will come when nobody will be able to do that because it is becoming so glaring. What if the people making the phone calls become the victims tomorrow? So if the voice of reason is not allowed to prevail now, a time will come when ordinary people will invade Government Houses and say look here, they are killing our people and you are conniving. And it will be too late. But before it gets to that level, those who have good sense and know better than others should moderate because we cannot continue like this. It is impossible to continue like this and let nobody think about Biafra era, it is gone. We are gradually getting to a stage when people are just waiting for somebody to throw the first stone and people will rush out of their houses. Before then, there is the urgent need for those in the leadership position in the North to moderate now. If they don’t, what will happen, history has not conceived of it. The noise about the six million Jews will be small because you can’t continue to kill others and expect them not to retaliate.

    Will true federalism solve all these problems?

    Let Nigerians decide through a Sovereign National Conference. It is what they say that will determine whether it is federal or unitary. If it is not done now, the beast in men will soon show up. Soon, the perception that people are not ready to defend their rights will be proved to be a wrong assumption. I tell you that there are more people in this country who are ready to die defending themselves than be slaves in their country.

     

  • MOSSOP, Dokubo, others to FG: 83% oil blocs for Northerners must be reviewed

    MOSSOP, Dokubo, others to FG: 83% oil blocs for Northerners must be reviewed

    MOSSOP, Dokubo, others want oil blocs allocation reviewed Ex- militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo and the President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr.Legborsi Saro Pyagbara have called for the review of oil blocs allocation in the country.

    This is on account of the allegation that over 80% of the oil blocs in the country are owned by Northerners . Most of the country’s oil blocs are located in the Southsouth. Senator Ita Enang, representing Akwa-Ibom North, sparked the rage on Wednesday after telling those opposed to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that their opposition to the 10 per cent host community fund by mostly Northen senators was ‘misplaced’.

    Reacting to the allegation yesterday,ex- militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, asked President,

    Goodluck Jonathan to immediately revoke the licences.

    “We must sound it clear to our brother, Jonathan, that if he fails to do something about it, we shall take our destiny on our own hands,” he said.

    “It’s not a threat, but a warning to our brother to act fast. According to the leader of the Niger/Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, the revelation has brought home to Nigerians the reason behind the restiveness in the Niger Delta.

    Asari said: “Can you now see what we have been fighting for? We own the oil and we are suffering for it. Is it a curse to have oil in our land?

    “Now, you see why these Northerners want to die in power.The oil we have is being controlled by them. Is that not funny?”See, let me tell you, if Jonathan fails to revoke the licences, we will take our destiny in our hands. We will not sleep any more for people to take what belongs to us. Nigerians must stand to resist a set of cabals that turned our country to their personal empire.

    “One single person is richer than Nigeria. They are sucking our blood. Our land is being destroyed every day. No water, we can’t fish anymore; the land is polluted. Yet, none of our people in the Niger/Delta controlls an oil bloc.”

    Also reacting,the President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara said the domination of the oil industry by one section of the country is unfortunate.

    He said : “The oil producing communities in the Niger Delta deserve more than 10 per cent. That is not what we agreed on, but we can take off from there. For now, the 10 per cent is a basis for the way forward. We expect the 10 per cent to be calculated on gross profit and not net profit of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.

    “The fund will take care of the future without crude oil and gas, for the communities not to be abandoned like Oloibiri in Bayelsa State, where crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in 1956, when the crude oil in wells of current producing communities dries up.

    “Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is dominated by one section of the country, which is quite unfortunate. Where is the much-talked-about federal character? Niger Deltans are being marginalised.

    “We must look at the oil industry again. The sector must be open for participation of all Nigerians.”

    But the leader of the Ijaw Monitoring Group, Comrade Joseph Evah,said Senator Enang’s allegation is not really new.

    “It is not new in any way. We have always known the truth for a long time now.” Evah said.

    He blamed President Jonathan for refusing to give Niger Delta people the opportunity to own oil blocs.

    “We told our brother to allow us to own oil blocs, but he said that we are not qualified to have oil blocs.” He, however, said he is not angry with Northerners for owning the oil blocs.

    “The truth is that I am not in any way angry with the North. And any Niger Delta man who is angry with them is stupid. “The North is wise. They are intelligent and patriotic for taking our oil.” Evah blamed politicians from the Niger Delta for the lopsidedness in the allocation of oil.

    The National Youth Leader of the Middle Belt Youth Forum, Hon. Jonathan Asake,said the revelation has proved wrong claims that the current insecurity in the North is caused by poverty in the region.

    According to him, hinging the violence in the North on poverty cannot be true when the region controls about 83 percent of the oil blocs in the country. “Is it not a shame to discover that Northerners have cornered a whooping 83% of the oil wells of this country, yet no programs, scholarships or other efforts put in place to remove the plight of the Northern masses.

    “Except Gen. T.Y. Danjuma who has put in place a foundation for charity and has been involved in the development of education in Nigeria it is sad to note that instead of applying their ill-gotten wealth to develop the North, these selfish, thieving Northern leaders stash their wealth abroad and come back to apportion blames, blackmail government, brainwash and incite the poor masses whom they have left illiterate and in abject poverty to begin to kill and maim perceived enemies.

    The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in its reaction to the allegation said: “Given the important constitutional provisions that access to all national resources be equitable and conform with provisions for federal character, ACF wishes to appeal to the National Assembly to investigate the allegations and publish the distribution of oil blocs according to state together with their volume and from which dates.

    “Or the federal government should institute a commission of enquiries to establish the veracity or otherwise of such allegations. ACF is alarmed by the allegations because it is not long ago that the Forbes magazine said eleven Nigerians are now on the list, and that all of them-except Dangote who is a manufacturer-owe their riches to oil.

    “The North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the list than the South. We believe knowledge of the correct position of things will help in improving the equitable management of oil blocs in accordance with provisions of the federal character for performance and public good”.The Rivers State Chairman of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Chika Onuegbu and the President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Miabiye Kuromiema,also spoke on the development.

    Mr.Onuegbu urged members of the National Assembly, especially those from the North, to consider the plight of the people of the oil producing communities, who bear the brunt of oil exploration and exploitation activities, as well as pollution and environmental degradation.

    Onuegbu said: “It is quite revealing and exposes the dangers associated with the exercise of discretionary powers and a further reason why all discretionary and excessive powers in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) should be removed, because they do not serve the interest of the country.

    “It also showcases the beauty of democracy, as it allows for debate in the National Assembly, which strengthens the legislative process.

    “Nigerians now know who the real beneficiaries of the country’s oil and gas wealth are.”

    Mr. Kuromiema said: “We (Ijaw youths) take gladly and gracefully the rejection by the political class, especially the governors, legislators and AFC leaders, the 10 per cent profit from earnings of operating companies to be given to host communities, through the provision in the PIB of the Host Community Fund (HCF)

    “While they have given to themselves, structured control, through their number in the National Assembly, as their idea and sense of power to decide our political and economic destiny, we are very conscious of what powers God has given to the nations of the Niger Delta. We notify them that the battle line will soon be drawn and the final decision on our destiny will not be decided in their national parliament. This will be very very soon.

    “The aspirations of most nations of Nigeria, outside most of the ruling political class, is for total restructuring of this false Nigerian federation, to an order where consensually agreeing consociational units take full control of their human and natural resources and pay appropriate taxes, for agreed common services to be managed at the central government.

    “We will reawaken the resource control struggle and commence action, to include engaging with nations of Nigeria, particularly minority nations in the Niger Delta and Middle Belt and those of Oodua and Igbo, to explore joint ideals.”

  • 2015: Pro-Jonathan group hits back at Asari Dokubo

    2015: Pro-Jonathan group hits back at Asari Dokubo

    •Accuses ex-militant leader of bitterness over termination of pipeline contract
    •How Asari-Dokubo became angry with Jonathan over pipeline contract-Group

    The Okrika National Youth Movement, a pro-President Goodluck Jonathan group, yesterday accused a former militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo of launching a media attack on the President because his pipeline security contract was terminated.

    The group also claimed that Dokubo is not happy that Jonathan refused to make his friend Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and is acting the script of some “over-ambitious persons within the presidency.”

    The President of the group, Mr. Anthony Amieyefori, and the Secretary, Comrade Ibiyoma Lloyd,in a joint statement in Abuja said Dokubo should be ignored by all.

    The former militant leader recently asked the President to jettison his desire for a second term in 2015.

    He also said it was wrong of the President to have engaged in a cold war with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    But the Okrika National Youth Movement said there was more to Dokubo’s attacks against Jonathan.

    It said: “We are not averse to the right of the young man to express his feelings, particularly under a democratic setting where the freedom of expression of the citizens is expressly guaranteed under the law.

    “But what we find astonishing is the manner in which the ex-freedom fighter tried vainly to muddle up personal interests with issues of national interest and importance, particularly at a time that the nation is desirous of peace and security.

    “Ordinarily, we ought not to have reacted since the Presidency has come out openly to put Asari where he rightly belongs. But a proverb says in our place that the head of the child can only bend in the market place if there are no elders.

    “For this reason, we wish to state that the unfortunate outburst of Asari was not only misguided; it was self serving and mischievous in all intents and purposes for the following reasons which we have confirmed to be true.

    “Asari owns a pipeline security outfit to stem the rising wave of piracy on the Niger Delta waters but failed to work for the objectives for which the contract was given after millions of dollars have been paid to him.

    “In spite of the shameful failure above, he and those in his category have mounted series of pressures on the presidency, the minister of Niger Delta Affairs as well as the petroleum minister for the renewal of such contracts. “This is most unfortunate and goes to show that unlike High Government Ekpomupolo (Tompolo) whose Oil Facility Surveillance Company is working in the Delta axis to rid the state of oil thieves, Asari’s supposed struggle is about self and self alone.

    “Still, Asari attempted to arm-twist the Federal Ministry of Transport to award to him another multi-million naira project. Upon failure in this regards he turned to the some presidency officials for assistance, which he never got on the basis that he had an outstanding job (PIPELINE SECURITY) which he never executed effectively, a situation that has given rise to the renewed wave of oil theft in Bayelsa and Rivers States.”

    The movement also alleged that Dokubo disagreed with the President over Jonathan’s refusal to appoint his friend, a former presidential aide, as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

    “In a nutshell, Asari’s comments do not reflect the opinion of the Niger Delta people as he speaks for himself and he is acting the orchestrated script of some unseen over-ambitious persons within the presidency.”