IF I WERE TOMPOLO OR ASARI DOKUDO
I have never met Tompolo before now. I have met Asari several times. We even worked together with Papa Enahoro, during the PRONACO days. To be sure, at the risk of being immodest, im one of the closest Yoruba persons to the Ijaw nation in my generation. I was at the Kiama Declaration. The rally we had in Port Harcourt, with Asari was huge and impressive. I was in Asari's house. He hosted us. Asari is a very brilliant man, he is intelligent, courageous, honest and daring. I respect his determination to liberate his people, at a time, using weapons, since dialogue appeared to have failed. Asari risked his life the way many of us could not have. He slept in the creeks, drank the dingy waters and for years, he was a guerilla fighter. To be honest, somebody needed to teach a deaf and dumb nation, a big lesson, a nation deaf to the hues and cries of the afflicted. He did. Asari has no big certificate, having spent 8 years in the University, and having to be suspended for his radical views. He ended up attending the biggest and most famous University in the World, the University of Life, where the biggest lessons are learnt, where everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. No university is as big as the University of Life, attended by greats like Socrates, Plato, Bob Marley, Vladimir Lenin, Chairman Mao and many others. He graduated with First Class, if not he would not have been able to lead his people at such a very tough period, when the Ijaw nation was trampled upon like a cockroach on the sidewalk. In modern times, Ken Saro Wiwa began the struggle for the Niger-Delta. He protested with leaf. He was mauled down, he was hanged. His successors learnt their lessons. They went for AK-47. That was the only thing that made the callously wicked Nigerian state to listen to them. Ijaws are deprived. Their resources exploited and their motherland gang-raged by a rapacious elite of the Nigerian state. They produce the oil, but asked to come to Abuja to line up for crumbs from the masters table. Ijaw, about 9 million people, is twice the size of Israel, and five times the size of Togo. She can be a rich, sovereign nation. I have never met Tompolo. I made attempts while he was in the creeks. I was in Warri and travelled for hours on the sea. He was being bombarded from the sky at the time, by the Nigerian Airforce. Eventually, on the third day, I gave a book, The Art of War to his personal assistant, who promised the book would be delivered to him. We must respect the roles these two people played at one time or the other, in their show of anger against a system that took away their being and essence. Now, on the issue of President Goodluck Jonathan, If I were Tom or Asari, instead of threatening brimstone if President Jonathan does not win, I would have set up an Independent Campaign Group. I would reach out to youth groups, Christians, Muslims and all. I would reach out to social and cultural formations across the country, explaining to them why they should support a Nigerian President from Ijawland. I would campaign on the streets of Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, appealing to the electorate and reaching them through traditional allies. If the threats said to have been issued by them are true, then it remains a great blunder. For one, they are diminishing those that support them outside the Niger Delta; they are also crushing with their own hands, forces that could help raise the prospect of a President almost boxed into a corner by the thrills of and skyrocketing tempo of an overwhelming campaigns. Why do they choose not to recognize the importance of alliances and coalition building in war and in politics? The US reached out to most Arab nations, even her enemies, before smacking Sadam Hussein. Ijaw war Generals over 100 years ago, reached out to Andoni, Ogoni and others in the battle against British on the historic river Nun. And what I dont understand is this: If GEF does not win, then Nigeria will break up. Oh, it simply means those who want Nigeria to break up should vote against GEF. It also means those who want Nigeria to remain one country will vote against GEF. Are they aware that there are millions of Nigerians in this category who want Nigeria to dismantle? This then means another millions of votes lost for Mr President. The realignment of the North and the South West, two traditional rivals, has changed the paradigm of the campaign, in ways unimaginable. In politics, as it is in war, nothing is as good as seeking allies, even among sworn foes, and you don’t do this with a pistol in your left hand and a terrifying club on your right hand

What?

You'll advise Jona that it's too late?