[size=15pt]If Buhari is arrested, nothing will happen —Asari Dokubo[/size]

By WOLE BALOGUN

Saturday, April 30, 2011


Leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujadhadi Asari Dokubo, has said that presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, should be arrested and prosecuted over the riots that claimed lives and properties in the North.
Speaking with Saturday Sun, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dokubo said that the violence in the North could have been caused by what Buhari said when he voted on April 16. He also spoke on other issues.

What is your feeling about President Jonathan’s victory in the presidential poll?
It is a very great achievement and I think he deserves it. He won fair and square. He won overwhelmingly in four zones of the six zones and made significant inroads in the two other zones, winning Taraba and Adamawa, in the North East zone and this election is better than Abiola’s. It showed the overwhelming support of the people of the South for the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. When Abiola contested, Akwa Ibom, Rivers Anambra and Imo states did not vote for him. They voted for Tofa. But in this election, the people of the South overwhelmingly voted for Goodluck Jonathan. The people of the North Central of Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Nasarawa also voted for him. This shows the preponderance of these zones. Over 90 per cent of the ethnic nationalities that were forcefully conscripted into Nigeria supported Jonathan and this is a good omen for all of us. It shows that those who refuse and who have always considered themselves born to rule, going by what Orkar said during his coup, do not want to be part of us.

Which people are you saying in particular?
I mean those rioting.

What is your reaction to the carnage that trailed the elections?
I think it is unfortunate; but they acted true to type. The bloodletting and senseless killing were premeditated. All signs of pre-plan war were there. Why is it that youth corps members were singled out for attack in Niger, Bauchi, Kaduna, Gombe and Kano? Why were they going to the youth corps members’ lodge if there was no communication among them? Statements made by Buhari did not help matters. I watched Buhari on the day of elections, on Ajazeera, where he said that the polls had been rigged but that he was not going to court. He said that if his party wants to go to court, it should. They thought that they could intimidate Jonathan and INEC. They thought that INEC would not continue to announce the results. Why didn’t Buhari say that 2003 and 2007 elections were rigged? The 2007 elections were adjudged the worst. His kinsman, Yar’Adua, was declared winner. Why didn’t he decry rigging then? Why didn’t the North riot? Why didn’t he reject the National Assembly elections? It is obvious that this carnage was planned and Buhari should be help responsible. In fact, the CPC, his party, is culpable.

What agenda would you set for President Jonathan after May 29?
The most fundamental agenda that should be before Jonathan is the convocation of a sovereign national conference. We must sit down and address even the aftermath of the elections and the events after the elections. The post-election violence has clearly shown that we cannot be together and there is an urgent and compelling need for us to sit down and discuss, in a conference, how we are going to live together or pull apart, as it has happened in Sudan. Also, in the short time, Jonathan must have zero-tolerance for corruption. There should be good governance, following the rule of law strictly. He must also cut down wasteful expenditures. Why should there be so many cars in the villa? It should be reduced. Why should his aides live in hotels? He should cut down on foreign trips. He should look at the contract papers and cancel padded contracts and, therefore, give the wealth back to the people. He should ensure his energy programme works and should enhance transportation by constructing and rehabilitating roads. He should open up the country. All these should be in the front burner and he must be just to all.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for Buhari’s arrest. What is your reaction?
I think that Buhari’s arrest is overdue. There must be somebody held responsible for the painful loss of the lives of young ones and innocent peoples, especially the youth corps members because their parents sent them to school and they have gone to serve their country. They conducted elections that have been adjudged free and fair, but a man decided to send his mob out to kill people. Somebody should be punished for the atrocities credited to the CPC. If you look at it critically, Jonathan won overwhelmingly in the North Central, South West and South South, South East. The respect some of us have for Buhari has been lost.

After the elections, I saw him on the screen saying that ballot papers were being flown and thumbprinted. Who was he telling that rubbish? Did they need to thumbprint ballot papers and fly it when, in unit per unit, you can easily thumbprint ballot papers? So, how can somebody just manufacture a lie like that, a lie that even my smallest daughters cannot believe? I have been involved in elections. Ballot papers are thumb-printed at the units. They can go and hide in some places, close to the units and snatch the ones in the units, to replace them. So, such lie by Buhari is ingenious.

They planned the reaction, and the carnage to test us. Unfortunately, we did not react. It is not that we cannot react. They know that we are capable of reacting and if we react, they would look foolish. Buhari never campaigned, from the start. Jega, the INEC and the North prepared to rig elections and that was why the North was given more registered voters than the South. The tentative INEC voters’ register had 60 million voters, but instead of the figure coming down, after the verification, which saw the removal of double registrations etc, the North’s registered voters surprisingly went up and we now have 73 million. Extra votes were added in the North because they thought that Buhari never needed our votes. He was only banking on a run-off, which would be after the first ballot, where he requires a single majority to win. So, he never needed the votes of the other tribes: the Efik, Igbo, Yoruba or Ijaw.

He thought that there was a monolithic North that would give him victory in a run-off.
As far as we are concerned, somebody must be responsible for the carnage and be prosecuted. We cannot continue to indulge this barbarous, murderous mob in the North. Each time they carry out the carnage, we sweep it under the carpet; that cannot continue. If we also had to vent our anger in the same manner, they would lose more than us, because there are more of their people in our midst. But we cannot do it, because being a Muslim I find it very difficult to take the life of a fellow Muslim. We found ourselves in a quagmire. My family and my children and many of my people are Muslims. The Imam in my house is from Maiduguri. So, am I going to kill him? The man teaching my children, in my school, is from Maiduguri and I cannot kill him. My people see me as a leader; so the northerners and Muslims among us see me as their brother and a leader.

It is really unfortunate. People like Buhari should not be allowed to be moving freely after that carnage. They should be brought to book, to show that they are not above the law. The president must assert his power and arrest the man; nothing will happen. I repeat, nothing will happen. The worst they have done is the killing of innocent people and they cannot do that any more. If they do more, they know that others would not fold their hands and watch.

The Igbo hope to take over from Jonathan in 2015, which explains why they voted for him. Is this possible?
I don’t believe that the majority of the Igbo voted for Jonathan because power should be given to them in 2015. There is no where the Igbo sat down with him to discuss that. But I believe that naturally, for equity and justice, power should go to the Igbo in 2015. If we want to run a country that is balanced and equitable, where justice reigns supreme, then we must look at the number of years ruled by each of the zones. The most disadvantageous zone now is the South East. They have held executive powers for less down one year. And naturally everybody should concur and give them political power. And I am totally in support of that. I would be in the forefront to fight for that, even as we should continue to go into convocation of a sovereign national conference. In the interim, I believe that every one of us, in all the zones, should work together in the same way they worked together to elect Jonathan, to give power to the South East, even by the so called zoning. The North Central has ruled, with Yakubu Gowon. Murtala Muhammed, Sani Abacha, Shehu Shagari came from North East. We had Tafawa Bafewa and Yar’Adua from North West. After the South South, the South East is the most disadvantaged.

What in your opinion will cause Nigeria to break up?
It is the continuous act of impunity, on the part of the people from the North West, the Hausa Fulani and those who have been collaborating with them. The act of impunity has continued. They cancelled an election that was widely believed to have been won by a South western, MKO Abiola, in 1993, murdered him and we accepted it. They committed pogrom with the Igbo, in the civil war and there is a continued act of genocide every time. But we cannot continue to condone this, because they are signs that they cannot continue to be with us. This was what Gideon Orkar said in his attempted coup. We cannot continue to condone people who think that they would continue to rule us. They think that they have better right to lead us and this has nothing to do with religion.
I don’t know how many northerners are better Muslims than my children and I. The only way to stay together is to see us as equals. So, there are people who talk about Zaria and others, but in a federal nations, where there are many nations, in a heterogeneous nation, like ours, every one would be allowed to practise his beliefs. And where the Muslims are in the majority they have a right to sharia. No law can be imposed on theirs. So, it is mutual respect that is lacking with these people in the North West and the North East.

What would make you and the Niger Delta Volunteer Force to go back to the creeks?
I don’t think that we are contemplating that. Jonathan is president; we supported him and we worked for him. We would continue to stand with him, not because he is good luck but because we believe in him. He represents our interests and we are going to protect that interest. We will continue to demand and advocate the convocation of a sovereign national conference, which was our primary objective and fundamental demand before Goodluck Jonathan came to power. We will continue to press for this, but in a very peaceful way. There will be no need for us to go to the creeks’ no need whatsoever.

Members of your group used to say that they had one more river to cross. What is that river and have you crossed it?
No, we are at the shores, and I think the activities, the acts of impunity taking place and engineered by the Hausa-Fulani of the North would provide the boat for us to cross to our destination of reclaiming our stolen sovereignty.

What do you mean by stolen sovereignty?
Yes, the British people came and signed protectorate treaties with our forebears, which gave birth to various independent nations, even among the Ijaws. I am from an independent state called the Kalabas, the kingdom of Kalabari. We signed treaties with them. Other nations, include the Ishekiris and all these nations, signed protectorate treaties with the British, but those treaties were jettisoned when the British imposed colonialism on us. In 1914, they said that they had amalgamated us with people we don’t even know, without even seeking our consent. So that is the stolen sovereignty that we are fighting for. And we would fight until we get it back.

Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, once recommended division of Nigeria along North and South line. What is your reaction to that suggestion?
The respected comrade brother, might not have the full information. Those of us who have been in the progressive front and who have had to meet with him on several occasions have educated him on this. It is not possible to divide Muslim-Christian South/North. We have said that there must be a sovereign national conference. He is right in his demands, because we are not the same. I don’t see any affinity between me and an Hausa or Fulani man. Even with religion, as Muslims, he does not consider me as his brother; so why should I consider somebody who does not consider me as his brother? A people must unanimously decide to live together; we have not done that and until we do that, through a conference, we may continue to have problem. What Gaddafi said does not arise.

If a military coup sacks Jonathan, how would you want the Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria, in general to react?
I don’t even want to hear about it. It would never happen and if it happens, we are going to retaliate in one million fold. They should never attempt it. Obasanjo stayed and completed his tenure and left. Yar’Adua stayed and completed his tenure. God took him. So, Jonathan will also stay and continue his tenure. It is only God and the people who voted him by the constitution that can remove him. The consequence of using extraneous means to remove him cannot be imagined.

What if he dies in office?
That is in the hands of God. But we are praying that he should be alive because we believe he is going to be the best person to rule this country. He is the most acceptable person. He is the one that the people of this country have given their mandate freely and fairly and we pray to God to preserve his life for us. But any attempt to truncate his regime and tamper with his life will be met with the greatest resistance ever imagined.

What is your appraisal of the amnesty programme?
I am not a militant and I am not competent to answer that question, but if there is such a programme, it is okay. After all, the government has been doing this to one section. They have nomadic and almajiri education. But the amnesty has no legal backing, because none of the people being given amnesty has been found by the law to have committed any crime. And people should not be criminalised for standing up for their rights, for standing up against the fraudulent confiscation of our land and embezzlement of our national resources.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/apr/30/national-30-04-2011-001.htm

I never knew the guy was this intelligent. He made some very strong points and sounded very much like Wole Soyinka.

this millitant should go and sleep bloody saboteur, e think say e and buhari na mate i laff in ijaw

This is what I dont get what does buhari concern him? Stick to the things youve been calling for federalism, resource control, regional govt etc.

GEJ being president has blinded these guys.

Trust before you know it GEJ will no longer be president and Niger delta still wont have federalism.

He should be asking Southerners to leave the north and develop their own region, obviously Nigeria is not one. That has nothing to do with Buhari, it has been going on before buhari!

efisher:

I never knew the guy was this intelligent. He made some very strong points and sounded very much like Wole Soyinka.

The man is highly intelligent and educated. His parents were educated as well. I believe his father was a barrister.

sbeezy8:

This is what I dont get what does buhari concern him? Stick to the things youve been calling for federalism, resource control, regional govt etc.

GEJ being president has blinded these guys.

Trust before you know it GEJ will no longer be president and Niger delta still wont have federalism.

He should be asking Southerners to leave the north and develop their own region, obviously Nigeria is not one. That has nothing to do with Buhari, it has been going on before buhari!

I have to agree.

I cant wait for 2015 and see what people would say about GEJ, Buhari and all other issues that are at the frontburner now.

Are buhari's days getting numbered?

Hopefully.

PhysicsMHD:

I have to agree.

2015 Southerners mainly niger deltans will hate GEJ. they will see the next 4 years as a wasted opportunity.

No SNC, No federalism, thugs as Govs like uduaghan, sylva, no state creation, no regional govts - i can see it already.

im telling you asari dokubo n co have taken their eyes off the prize.

kinda sad

sbeezy8:

This is what I dont get what does buhari concern him? Stick to the things youve been calling for federalism, resource control, regional govt etc.

GEJ being president has blinded these guys.

Trust before you know it GEJ will no longer be president and Niger delta still wont have federalism.

He should be asking Southerners to leave the north and develop their own region, obviously Nigeria is not one. That has nothing to do with Buhari, it has been going on before buhari!

I couldn't have agreed more - he is distracted just like every one would expect from a materialist. Instead of holding to his creed he is busy on pedantries

T9ksy:

Numbered ke? Buhari's days are dead and buried. finito.
Buhari will never rule us again even if he contest a umptenth times.
Even if he choose the archbishop of canterbury as his running mate, no sane southerner/person will vote for him.

I think the guy you replied was referring to his "life days" not "political days".

@POST

Of course, nothing would happen if Buhari is arrested except the press releases and court actions to bail him out. Other than this particular point, the article is filled with incoherent rhetoric.

The northern region knew the source of their socio-political headache in southern region and went ahead to block it in 1966 through 1970. The northern elites knew that if poison laced bones were thrown to certain group of people in southern Nigeria, the socio-political migraine they envisaged in future would be cured. They also knew that such potent poison will remain in system of intended victims for a very long time.

In the southern Nigeria, northern elites got the Yoruba, Ijo, Edo, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Efik, Ejigam and Esan to do their dirty biddings and thereby create everlasting enmity between Ndigbo/Biafran and their once good neighbors through a goofy slogan of One-Nigeria. Can anybody fathom why Rivers State under the leadership of Ijo son was chosen to perfect the draconian policy of “abandon property”?

As long as there is no iota of unity or corporation among the southerners, the elites in northern region will continue to exploit the situation. The loudmouthed Asari Dokubo should concentrate his efforts on the government of Rivers State to purge itself from the iniquities of abandon property in Port Harcourt and urge other southern Nigerians to really apologize to Biafrans. It is funny there was no abandon property in any other part of Nigeria but Port Harcourt.

The northern region and its elitism are not stupid by any stretch of imagination. They will continue to test the degree of unity among southerners either by religious and political riots that target the lives and properties of non-northerners and Christian in northern region or making insensitive and outrageous comments that border on stupidity.

most guys around just say things without bothering to read this interview.
pls take some time to read it,it's free.

im sorry but this is all they do open mouth and talk dont get them one bit

@ efisher,

Sure, Asari Dokubo is an intelligent guy, I once thought he was the gra gra talking type, following his comments and views has earned him my respect.

What are they arestting him for, i opnly would want us to plan and arrest federal govnt. If we cant then leave individuals alone oooo.
Na old story

Aljahi Asari Dokubo might have the appearance of a heavyweight wrestler, but this interview surprisingly reveals that the man is a learned, astute scholar of Nigerian politics and history, whose resourcefullness and bravery during his years as a Niger Delta guerrilla fighter are now eclipsed by the depth of his statesman's insight, and the fluid, articulate manner in which he expresses himself.

Asari Dokubo's call for the arrest and prosecution of fundamentalist genocide instigator Ayatollah Buhari is noteworthy, and should be given urgent consideration by the Nigerian government, so as to prevent re-occurrences of the pogrom already unleashed by that career election LOSER in the wake of his most recent defeat at the polls.

Thank you my good friend Alh. Asari. You hardly stand on the other side of truth. It's good to see citizens bowing to the air of your good reasoning.

ishadosi:

most guys around just say things without bothering to read this interview.
pls take some time to read it,it's free.

I tire o

Learned my foot, after all some1 just said he get brain pass Soyinka, Mumus,

On what ground will they arrest Buhari,

It's true, this GEJ being the president has really clouded them all. I thought the learned fool is in ACN?

What do you expect from a learned militant, murderer, thief, terrorist, bunkerer? Fallacy,