The House of Representatives on Tuesday
asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to quiz
ex-militant, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, over his latest comment that
there would be no peace in Nigeria if President Goodluck Jonathan was
not re-elected in 2015.
In a separate statement, Niger State
Governor Babangida Aliyu also asked security agencies to arrest
Dokubo-Asari for alleged treasonable offence.
In a resolution in Abuja, the federal lawmakers said Dokubo-Asari’s statement was “capable of causing disaffection in Nigeria.”
Dokubo-Asari is the Leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force.
Dokubo-Asari threat came on the heels of a similar statement credited to the Presidential Adviser on Amnesty, Mr. Kingsley Kuku.
Both Dokubo-Asari and Kuku are Jonathan’s kinsmen from the South-South zone of the country.
The Reps said the police authorities should interrogate both men to clarify their statements.
The House resolution also mandated its
Joint Committee on Police Affairs/Internal Security to investigate the
matter and produce a report.
A member from Kano State, Mr. Ali
Madaki, had drawn the attention of the House to Dokubo-Asari’s comment
under matters of urgent public importance.
Madaki called on the Federal Government
to “check the utterances of some Nigerians capable of causing
disaffection in Nigeria,” citing Dokubo-Asari and Kuku’s statements as
examples.
He noted that the threat and the
reference to the 2015 presidential poll could heat up the polity,
“thereby causing unnecessary tension and anxiety in this country.”
The motion was not debated at the
Tuesday’s session presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, but
lawmakers endorsed the motion in a unanimous voice vote.
Dokubo-Asari, while addressing
journalists in Abuja, had threatened that the country would not know
peace if Jonathan was not re-elected.
He was also quoted as saying that
militancy and struggle for control of oil and gas resources in the
Niger-Delta region would be re-ignited after the Jonathan presidency.
According to him, the relative peace in
the region is due to the fact that Jonathan is the President and not the
amnesty declared by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
Dokubo-Asari had said, “I called this briefing because of events that are unfolding in the polity.
“Recently, the Special Adviser to the
President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, made a statement in the
United States of America, that the peace being enjoyed in the Niger
Delta will not be guaranteed if President Goodluck Jonathan is not
returned as President of Nigeria in 2015.
“This statement has been supported by several groups from the region.
“Also, the statement has been attracting
reactions from several quarters, expectedly from the Action Congress of
Nigeria and others.
“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.
“Jonathan has uninterruptible 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.”
While receiving members of the House of
Representatives Committee on Education, led by Honourable Aminu Sule,
who visited him in Minna, Aliyu described the statement credited to
Asari Dokubo as “unfortunate and inciting,” saying “by now the security
agencies should have arrested him for treason”.
While asking politicians to advise their
supporters to watch their tongues, the Niger State governor said some
statements were capable of causing disunity in the country.
“We should bring discipline to our politics; we should be a nation of rules, so that our country would move forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kuku on Tuesday denied
reports quoting him as having said that there would be violence in the
country if Jonathan was not re-elected in 2015.
Kuku said that the statement he made at the American Department of State was wrongly reported by a section of the media.
The President’s aide said that he made a
call on Nigerians to give yet another opportunity to the President to
continue in office to ensure implementation of agreements reached
between the leaders of the Niger Delta ex- militants and the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua that offered them amnesty.
He said that the Yar’Adua administration
repeatedly assured the leaders of the various militant groups in the
region that the government would take a conscious step to develop the
Niger Delta.
That promise, according to him, has not been fulfilled.
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I think the hypocrisy of the north i mean northern elders is rather playing out here.
ReplyDeleteLet the common citizens of the north know that we love them and we are in this struggle for the betterment of the common man in Nigeria together.
We should get our leaders to be responsible, but not in a violent way. Better still we destroy the political structure that bring self centered leaders in to power.
However, i want to ask that those who can reach the Governor of Niger and the whoever law makers that say Asari should be arrested to tell them that they all hypocrites of the first order.
They are unable to maintain and foster peace in their domain, which should be their priority.
Unfortunately they still have time for Alhaji Asri Dokubo.
Has Buhari who promised the country blood after his 2011 loss been arrested? We are not a country but association of tribes forced together in quasi unity
ReplyDeleteWith what is happening in Borno state, if it was in the Southern part of the country the senators and govt officials supporting these mayhem could have been arrested and detained on trump up charges
I think we have lived together too long as a Nation Old Yugoslavia and Checkeslovakia did not go through these loss of lives before seperation
How empty some can be! Do we still have a sense of history at all? How can your memory be so short? Have you so quickly forgotten that when Buhari made that statement in the post 2011 election period, many, a good deal among them from the Niger Delta, called for his arrest; recall when the respected Edwin Clark, the loudmouth of the Jonathan administration, called for the arrest of Buhari when he made a monkeys and dogs statement sometime last year or so? Have you so quickly forgotten that again? See, Asari and Boko Haram are birds of the same feather. And Asari made a treasonable comment; he's not the only one who made it, mind you, and the people calling for his arrest are not wrong at all!
ReplyDeleteBuhari have made this type of statement before, had Govs, sens or reps order for his arrest?
ReplyDeleteBuhari have made this type of statement before, had Govs, sens or reps order for his arrest?
ReplyDeleteBuhari have made this type of statement before, had Govs, sens or reps order for his arrest? Why asari will be arrested? Becouse he is a southerner and minority tribe?
ReplyDeleteThat's double standard there Mr Servant Governor. Junaid Mohammed, Adamu Ciroma and Muhammadu Buhari are still walking the street as free citizens. They made categorical threats that the country would be made ungovernable for President Jonathan if power was not returned to the North in 2011. Part of the country is actually in turmoil with daily killings and wanton destruction. We should start with the arrests of these three people whose threats are actually being carried out, then we'll know what to do with the ones whose threats are still based on an IF.
ReplyDelete