I’m angry with Jonathan–Dokubo Asari

Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari, ex-militant and leader of Niger
Delta Volunteers Force (NDVF) is angry.
He sees Nigeria as a huge contraption that is bound to
collapse..
For him, his greatest desire is to see the country break up,
even as he urges the South and the Middle belt to rise up and
confront those he said have an unhidden mission to conquer
and dominate everywhere.
A glimpse: “So for them, their grip on power, their intention for
which they left Guinea, spreading death and destruction,
destroying Borgu, destroying Kanem Bornu, destroying
Kwararafa, destroying the Oyo Empire, destroying the Gbagis,
destroying the Katafs, destroying all civilizations on their way
to take power is fading. They know that it will not last
forever.”
He vows to lead the battle to debunk the myth of ‘born to
rule’ which has been their driving force.
He describes Gideon Orkah, the leader of the April 1991
botched coup d’etat against ex-president Ibrahim Babangida,
which excised large portions of the North- west from Nigeria,
as a prophet who saw what many did not see.
Dokubo warns those who deride Jonathan not to dare “a deaf
and dumb man” by pushing him to the wall as his bid to get
off the wall may be catastrophic for them.
Saying that Rivers State governor is a traitor, he likened him
to the biblical Judas Iscariot, who committed suicide after
betraying Jesus.
He speaks more on Obasanjo, February polls, and related
issues. Excerpts:
Ahead of the general elections next month, what are your
basic fears?
Normally, elections are special when a northern candidate, a
Gambari candidate is involved. They believe that they will
resort to violence. Reports of violence have been coming in, in
Kaduna, where somebody driving the president’s branded bus
was beaten to the point of coma. A couple of days ago, a bus
was burnt in Jos North; a branded bus of the president was
burnt in Jos North. The arsonists were chanting, “Haram me,
Muna fike kafere. Baba yoyo oyo yo. Sai Buhari .” It’s all
recorded. These are the things that will trigger retaliation. In
Rivers State today, APC secretariat in Okirika Local
Government Area has been bombed according to reports.
There was also a reported case of shooting of APC members.
People are not going to fold their arms. There would be
actions and reactions from the North and the South. This is
very, very unhealthy, because at all times, they initiate
violence and people just ignore them and say let us forget
about them; why are we bothering about them? This cannot
continue forever. People have to stand up to defend
themselves. These are the fears, because they know that in
every free and fair election, they will not be able to get
underage children to vote. We all saw underage children
collecting PVCs, very openly. Nobody confronted them, they
did it openly. They will incite and scare people away from
coming out to vote. The insurgency which they masterminded
to make the government of Goodluck Jonathan not to be able
to have a grip over the country is raging as a result of the
promise they made after the last elections that they will make
the country ungovernable for Goodluck.
You said if the violence continues, it may spark off some
reactions?
The reactions are already there with what has happened in
Rivers State, and I know that it’s going to spread all over the
South very soon, it’s going to spread. Look at what is
happening in Lagos State, where posters of PDP candidates
are being torn, and I saw somebody on television boasting,
talking that there is a law. So, the law permits APC to paste
their posters and the PDP not to paste their posters? If you
drive out, on federal roads, federal highways, federal
pavements, PDP posters are being torn, APC posters are
spared. I drove round Lagos Third Mainland Bridge and all the
expressways which are owned by the Federal Government and
maintained by the Federal Government. Lagos State
Government officials are bringing bad policies in the name of
APC, going about defacing posters.
Don’t you think this is just the icing on the cake, and
elections may not hold now that violence is erupting?
It’s for the North and their supporters to moderate their
actions, because they had always been the people to initiate
violence. It’s for them to moderate, see reason and live with
human beings.They want to reduce us to their level. But there
is nothing we can do about it. If they want us to come to their
level, there is no other option than to come to their level. We
will not fold our arms and die. We will not fold our arms and
watch them take the mandate that was freely given to
Goodluck, that will be freely given to him on February 14 to
continue for another four uninterrupted years until 2019. So,
we are not going to fold our arms and watch them fight
people, and watch them have an exclusivity to violence.
They say actions beget reactions. The way things are going
now, Nigeria is like standing on a tinder box. If the North do
not let go, if they don’t allow Jonathan rule if he wins, on
your own part, what are you going to do?
Jonathan will win, no matter the way they want it, he will win.
So, they are the ones who have problems.
But in the North, they don’t support Jonathan, and if you
look at the possible voters’ dispersal index, you will see who
will possibly win in the election?
The voting in the last elections was very clear. Apart from
Taraba State, no part of the North east and North west voted
for Jonathan. We keep records.
So you are saying that Jonathan can still bounce back
without their support?
He will win. This is the map of the 2011 elections (opens i-
Pad to show the delineation in the voting pattern of Nigerians)
red is for CPC, green for PDP. Taraba is the only state that
they did not win. PDP got Plateau, Nassarawa, Kogi, Benue,
Abuja, Kwara in the North central.
But politics is dynamic. Things have since changed since
2011 and there are two grey areas APC is latching on to
swing votes, and these are insecurity and corruption. Things
have really changed in voters loyalty switch. You don’t think
so?
Which corruption are you talking about?
The talk is that Jonathan is condoning corruption and that
they will stamp it out, if they win.
Excuse me please. There are about 800 governments in
Nigeria. We have 774 local governments. We have 36 states
and Abuja and that is over 800 governments. Sixty-four local
governments in Kano State are under an APC governor. Is it
Jonathan that diverts Local government money? Money meant
for the local governments. The budget of three states
controlled by APC is almost the entire budget of the
federation. The budget of Rivers State, the budget of Lagos
State, the budget of Kano State are almost the budget of the
federal government, N400 and something billion, and N500
and something billion budgets for Rivers and Lagos. The
Federal Government budget is close to N4 trillion. So, these
governments are controlled by APC. What have they done
about corruption? The Federal Government is just one tier of
government, and when you look at it, it’s not even up to a
quarter of the budget of all the local governments and states
put together. So, which corruption are we talking about?
You see, people get easily deceived. You go home and ask
your local government chairman, whether he is APC or PDP or
APGA what he has done with the money allocated to him
monthly. In most of the states, elections are not held. The
governors of these states, mostly APC states confiscate local
government money and they use it as they deem fit. So, how?
where? what corruption? The people who stand to talk as if
everybody is a fool, as if they are going to pull a wool over
our eyes and we won’t know what has happened in Lagos
State, Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State, Edo State, Kano State,
Delta State, Borno State and Yobe State should equally
concern all of us. I think that corruption is not peculiar to the
Federal Government. Corruption is endemic and it cuts across
all the tiers of government.
There is palpable fear especially from feelers in the North
that if Jonathan returns to power, the country may
disintegrate. Don’t you habour that fear too?
I will be very happy if Nigeria disintegrates. It will be the
greatest thing that will happen in my lifetime. It will be the
fulfillment of my greatest wishes and aspirations.
Why do you say so?
I hate… I am not a Nigerian. Why should anybody force me to
be a Nigerian. Where did I sit down with anybody to accept to
be a Nigerian? Where? I never sat with anybody. So, it would
be the greatest fulfillment of my wish and aspiration. It is my
dream come true. Having said that, they don’t have the
monopoly of violence. They should be told. They should be
made to understand that they don’t have. Nobody will tolerate
them any longer.
But as arms are pouring into the Boko Haram enclave, there
is peace on this other side, the south. No proliferation of
weapons…
(cuts in) Then the people in the South are stupid. If they tied
their hands, I certainly have not tied my hands. I am not
waiting for anybody. I will protect myself, my family, my
community and my country. The right to life is the greatest
right. It’s the first right that is accorded to me by God, and by
everything that exists. So, as far as I am concerned, if any
southerner sits down and folds his arms, and thinks that he
will not prepare to defend himself and wait for the North, as
they come from Guinea to overrun him, then he has himself to
blame. I will not be that foolish, and those who believe in me
and listen to me are not waiting. They are preparing. We too
are preparing and we are waiting for them and Insha Allah,
because we stand for justice, we will defeat them.
The Gambaris as you call them hinge their opposition to
Jonathan on the reason that they believe that he is usurping
their slot in the zoning arrangement of the PDP. The argu­
ment is that a northerner should have stepped into
Yara’Adua’s shoes when he died and not Jonathan. Are you
fazed by that?
You see people don’t go with the whims and caprices of
individuals. Countries are ruled by laws and the greatest law,
the law that governs the country is the constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, as they call it. The constitution
says that when a president dies, the vice president takes over;
when a president is incapacitated, the vice president takes
over. And the constitution clearly states that every citizen has
the right to aspire for any office. And in every democracy, the
right of first offer is given to the sitting president by his
political party. In their belief that they are born to rule, they
make rules they think are superior to the constitution. It was
not the right of any other people when Yakubu Gowon was
succeeded by Murtala Mohammed. After Murtala Mohammed,
they brought Olusegun Obasanjo, who was overshadowed by
Yar’Adua. It was their right. Then Shagari took over, Shagari
handed over to Babangida, Babangida handed over to Abacha;
Abacha handed over to Abdulsalam. Then they brought
Olusegun Obasanjo, their puppet, who handed over to
Yar’Adua. You see, for the first time, somebody has become
president that they did not decide for the people.
So, for them, their grip on power, their intention, for which they
left Guinea, spreading death and destruction, destroying
Borgu, destroying Kanem Borno, destroying Kwararafa,
destroying the Oyo empire, destroying the Gbagis, destroying
the Katafs, destroying all civilizations on their way to take
power is fading. They know that it will not last forever. And
they see that Nigeria is their most prized trophy in their battle
for the subjugation of the nations which are indigenous to this
part of the world. They have been defeated in the Central
African Republic (CAR), the aborigines, the owners of CAR
have kicked them out of their land. And they know that if that
continues, if it starts in Cameroun, if the Cameroonians also
do the same thing, it will come to us. And with this, we will
finally kick them out and rid ourselves of their colonial
mentality and sovereignty. They know it, and our people are
not aware of the historical importance of the invasion of our
land by these people from Guinea.
They know that instead of living amicably with other
nationalities, as strangers on our land, not offending our
sensibilities, insulting us, they keep on exhibiting high sense of
insensibility towards the owners of the land. Even though they
have committed genocide, all manners of crime against us, we
still have the large heart to accommodate them. It’s for me,
for most of us who know these historical facts and their
importance to our lives, a responsibility to say the truth. We
believe that Gideon Orkah was a prophet. He was a prophet
who saw beyond what all of us could not see. When he stood
up and said these people would be excised from Nigeria, that
they have to purge themselves of this feeling of colonizing
other people, to take what belongs to others, that they have
to first of all purge themselves, and if we are satisfied that
they have totally done that, that there is a purgation of this
noxious idea of born to rule, then we will admit them back to
live with us as equals. But many people did not know.
Former vice-president Alex Ekwueme recently exploded saying
he has been betrayed and neglected and the Igbos have also
been betrayed by Jonathan, and as a result he cannot
guarantee bloc Igbo votes for Jonathan in the forthcoming
presidential elections. What is your view on that?
I am very, very disappointed when elders become childish and
senile. If there is one man that I respect and I look up to, if
there is one man that I see as a role model, it’s Alex
Ekwueme. So, Buhari who put him in prison when he
committed no crime, put him in Kirikiri and left Shagari under
house arrest is the one that has not betrayed the Igbos?.
What did Obasanjo do for him, when he was president? What
did Yar’Adua do for him when he was president? A Goodluck
Jonathan, under who an Igbo man for the first time became
Chief of Army Staff is now anti- Igbo? Pray, all parts of the
financial sector, the economy of Nigeria are controlled by the
Igbos. The Minister of Finance, Central Bank Governor, D. G.
Budget, D.G, Due Process, the Nigerian Stock Exchange,
Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, are all controlled
by Igbos. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
SGF is an Igbo, Deputy Senate President is an Igbo, Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives is an Igbo. So how
has the Igbos been betrayed?. The Second Niger Bridge,
nobody constructed it until now. Construction has
commenced. I went there. Julius Berger was there. I saw it,
and that was in October.
Today, there is an airport in Enugu. International flights are
coming into Igbo heartland. It never happened. Nobody ever
permitted it. Igbos must go through Lagos. Everybody must
go through Lagos. There are a lot of things happening in
Igboland today. So, for somebody to say Igbos have been
betrayed, I feel very scandalized and I just held my head.
Because, as somebody who has Igbo blood flowing in me, I
feel that the old man, something must have gone wrong with
him somewhere, because if something has not gone wrong
with him, he will know that the person he is indirectly
campaigning for was the man who put him in prison without
trial. It is so unfortunate.
The North appears to be homogenous, and the South so
atomistic. Don’t you think if the push comes to shove, the
North will leverage on their homogeneity and ride over the
entire landscape?
I don’t know what you mean by homogeneity of the North.
Where do you keep Nasarawa State? Where do you keep
Plateau? Where do you keep Taraba State? Where do you keep
Kaduna State? Where do you keep Kogi State? Benue State?
Where is the homogeneity of the North? Even if they claim to
be homogenous, the Gambari invaders who have made slavery
acceptable to the Hausas, how have they related with other
people?. So, for me, I am not a coward. Let the enemy plan,
but he will fail in his plan. I believe it, I know it and I am
prepared for it. And I am ready at any moment to confront the
enemy and to make sure that at least whatever he tries to do
this time, he will fail. And he will be humiliated, and what
happened in Central Africa Republic will happen here.
Let me take you to Obasanjo. He has been making scathing
criticisms of the president. But surprisingly, he showed up at
his daughter’s wedding and Jonathan was persuaded to pay
him a visit at his country home, Abeokuta. Do you trust him?
I don’t need to trust Obasanjo. I am really pissed off at the
attitude of President Goodluck Jonathan in condoning this old
rascal. I am really pissed off. I was to go to the wedding. I
had already taken my bath when I heard that Obasanjo was at
the wedding, I didn’t want to go and spoil anything. So, I de­
cided not to go. Definitely, if I went and he says anything
disparaging about me, I will respond. I didn’t want that to
happen. So, whatever reason Goodluck allowed him to come
there is best known to both of them.
Do you not think it was out of desperation that the president
is seeking support from Obasanjo in his re-election bid?
Jonathan was not the first to go there. Obasanjo came to his
daughter’s wedding. So it’s reciprocal. Jonathan said that
some past leaders talk like motor park touts, and then in the
next two, three days, Obasanjo surfaced at the wedding. So,
Jonathan decided to pay him a visit, maybe, e get as e be , he
will support him. That’s why I find it difficult to seek elective
offices because I cannot condescend to this sort of level. I
believe that this man, Olusegun Obasanjo is evil, and should
be treated as such.
Historically, each time Obasanjo makes a peace overture,
something snaps. It happened in the case of the late Chuba
Okadigbo, it happened with Audu Ogbeh. In fact, he even
danced with Okadigbo’s wife and the next day he was
impeached. He ate pounded yam with Audu Ogbeh in his
house and a few days later he was sacked as national
chairman of PDP. People read a lot of ominous signs into
these peace overtures to Jonathan. Do you relate to this?
I cannot answer what I don’t know. The mystery is there. I
am not Goodluck Jonathan. These questions are meant for
Goodluck Jonathan. There are certain things I cannot do for
Goodluck Jonathan or answer for him. I am an Ijaw man; I am
from the south, and I support the position that it is the right
of our people from the South and the middle belt to hold on to
power perpetually as against those who are foreigners, who
invaded our land, who continue to colonize our people. These
people ordinarily should have been told to go back to where
they came from. If by our magnanimity we want them, then
they should be able to be amenable and accept to live with us
as human beings. So, if Goodluck Jonathan plays with the
destinies of the people, our collective destinies, and continues
to hobnob with people like Obasanjo, who are beneficiaries of
these colonial institutions of the Gambaris, then it is
unfortunate. It is unfortunate if he does not understand the
historical relevance of these events. I believe he will not rest
on his oars. He will try to cover all areas of leakages so that
the enemy will not have the exclusive power to overwhelm
him. So, for me, I think that it’s very unfortunate. The
president should be decisive in dealing with those who are not
really against him, but against the aspirations of the
collectivity of the South and the Middle belt.
Somebody from the South called for an insurrection or mutiny
in the armed forces should the election fail to meet the basic
test of fairness. He went ahead to say that a parallel
government would be set up. Are you comfortable with that?
That man is from Rivers State.
Chibuike Amaechi is a traitor, and there are ways to treat
traitors. Judas was given some pieces of silver coins to betray
Jesus Christ and after that he became frustrated and hanged
himself. The treachery of Chibuike Amaechi? He has started
getting the pay back. He wanted to become the vice presiden­
tial candidate of APC. He could not get it. On February 14th ,
he will fail in his bid to sell the people of the South –south.
And after he fails, because this is a man who said Jonathan
is favouring Biafrans, who denies to be an Igbo, but recently in
Abia, he said, “me I am Igbo, I speak Igbo language, ask
Jonathan to speak Igbo”. He thinks he can hoodwink the
people, and deceive the people. He went to Bayelsa, he put
his hands in his pocket, saying there is no money, we are
suffering. This is a man who was a houseboy to Peter Odili, a
driver, a nobody; the process was manipulated for him to
become what he is today. Look at his picture in 1999, when
he was looking like a malnourished young man, to a governor
flying in a private jet, junketing from one place to another,
spending billions of naira. Everybody has his day. He is having
his time. Our people say ore nini. Chubuike Amaechi, even if
the people do not punish him, will punish himself because he
will have nowhere to go to. I am telling you because after
February 14, I even say nobody should talk to him. He will
commit suicide. He will commit suicide with his own hands,
because when you betray your people, like Judas, the
consequences will be far reaching.
For me, he is so shameless trying to say APC put up the roller
coaster he called mono rail from station junction to UTC, even
if it isn’t moving. They lifted the train and put it there and
they show it. They think they are deceiving people. The people
are not deceived. Goodluck Jonathan will win. If anybody at­
tempts a parallel government, hmm, do not push a deaf and
dumb man. When he fights back it will be terrible. They are
pushing Goodluck Jonathan. They are pushing him. He did not
use power like Obasanjo did in sacking Ladoja; in locking
Ngige in a toilet as a governor, in chasing Dariye away, in
chasing Fayose away, in putting Alamieyeseigha in prison.
Goodluck Jonathan, because he refused to use these powers
is clueless, is weak, is incompetent. Don’t fight with a deaf
and dumb man. Whatever you are talking, he does not hear
you. He can’t even express himself. So anything that enters
his hand is a weapon. For us, if they make Jonathan to make
a 360 degrees turn, I pity them.
I don’t pray that Goodluck Jonathan should change his
nature. Sometimes I get very angry with the president. Why is
the president not taking action? At times, I look back and I
tell myself, maybe that is his nature. That is what has worked
for him. We are not the same. If it is somebody like me that is
the president, ah! by now a lot of issues would have been
settled, Obasanjo will not be anywhere around and be talking.
It’s Goodluck. You abuse him and he will come and sit down
with you and eat with you. It’s the good side of him. Maybe
that’s why God has kept him alive and successful. I pray that
he should not change his nature, no matter what, to become a
Dokubo Asari. Because, if he becomes a Dokubo Asari, nobody
will be able to stay in this country.
I listened to one APC man on television, he was talking that
nobody has run out of the country because this is a
government that condones corruption and accommodates the
corrupt. So El-Rufai that ran away when Yar’Adua was there
and came back during Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure was
corrupt.
That’s why he ran away. And now they are fielding him to
become governor of Kaduna State. Ribadu, who until recently
was with them, who ran away and came back… look, don’t
dare this man, Goodluck. I am telling them, they should not
dare, because when you push a man to the wall and he does
not become a ghost, and he cannot pass through the wall, he
will resist you, he will fight you back, and in fighting you back,
it’s the fight of his life and he will not consider any other
thing, his own is to fight to get himself off the wall and be
able to defend himself and survive. Let us not reach that
stage..If we reach that stage, the Ango Abdullahis, the lie-lie
Mohammeds and all of them will regret and taste what it
means to be an Obasanjo and a Buhari in government.