Controversial leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer
Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, spoke to Liberty Radio, Kaduna, on
a wide range of issues bothering on the proposed National Conference by
President Goodluck Jonathan; why the preference by the people of the
South-South for a Sovereign National Conference; his recent incarceration in
Benin Republic, and why he became a Muslim, reports Northern Bureau Chief,
Saxone Akhaine.
ON his comment that if
President Jonathan did not run, and win in 2015, there would be no Nigeria
and that he was coming to the North to help northern Christians who were being
persecuted by the Muslims.
In politics, people
take different camps depending on where their ideologies and principles lie.
Nigeria is a conglomerate of many nations and in this conglomerate, I happen to
be an Ijaw man. Goodluck Jonathan is also an Ijaw man like me.
Whether you like it or
not, when you go to London, if you see somebody speaking your language, you
will be more attracted to the man speaking your language than the one who does
not speak your language. You will feel more secured and safer by associating
with the man who speaks your language than the man who doesn’t. This is natural
and that is the way God has made it.
Coming to the fact that
Dokubo-Asari is coming to assist Christians against Muslims, I don’t think
there is any truth in that because Dokubo-Asari is a Muslim.
I ’ve been a Muslim for
25 years and since I became a Muslim on the 17th of September 1988, my children
are Muslims; there are many associates of mine from my own home, Ijaw land, who
are Muslims, and who also, because of my being a Muslim, were attracted to
Islam and are even better Muslims than myself. So, there is no truth whatsoever
(in it).
But there are
collaborative abilities among most people, whether they are Muslims or
Christians; these collaborative abilities cannot be wished away. This is a
small world and a very globalised world in that you associate with people from
all sorts of opinion.
How were you converted into
Islam?
I was born into an
environment that I would say was a Christian environment. I was born into a
family (of Christians). My mother was a Baptist; my father’s parents were
Anglican. At that time, my dad was not close to spiritual activities, in fact,
until he died.
In fact, I had a
spiritual threat, which led me into becoming a born-again Christian. I was
baptized in Deeper Life in 1980, and I continued to research but I was not
satisfied.
So, during the course
of the Iranian revolution, I started reading about Islam, the British
Encyclopedia Britannica and so on. I started reading Islam and I found out that
Islam was the best decision I could take to worship my God and to get close to
my God.
And for the past 25
years, I don’t have any regret but I’ve several challenges. But it has kept me
on. Allah has shown me that being alone (He is with me).
Why were you arrested in Benin
Republic?
I was arrested at the
Republic of Benin. Some people thought my university would close their
university. They said I’m an English-speaking person and my schools are doing
very well. They are tri-lingual: English, French and Arabic and so many people
are getting attracted.
So, they reported (me)
and so on. With the way they had planned it, there was no way that I could be
released. They carried (took) my visa; my businesses were closed down (on the
allegation) that I am the founder of Boko Haram.
Those were the charges
that they gave to me: that I am the founder of Boko Haram; that I built some
mosques in Benin Republic; that why should I be building mosques in my schools?
They closed down the mosques.
I was left
incommunicado; all my staff (members) were arrested. That showed how faithful
Allah has been to me. I’ve been to many tight corners, and without Allah, I
wouldn’t have come out.
Are these people (students)
Nigerians or Beninoise?
There are many who have
taken advantages. Like 99 per cent of students are from English-speaking
countries; 90 per cent are Nigerians. And somebody, who is from an
English-speaking country, the challenges will be very enormous for them. May be
some of the students going to their schools will not go.
And the speed with
which we got the license to open our university — it takes about five years —
but it took us one year to get our license because of the activities that were
in place. We are second to none.
It revealed that by
doing that, we would run other people out of business. We don’t know who they
are because it is wrong to ascribe but from the question, all the security
services in Benin, everybody was involved. Because from the questions that I
were asked, all led to one area — that it is because of the university.
What informed your decision to
open the university in Benin instead of Nigeria?
One needs a good
business environment and the type of business you want to do. My schools are
bi-lingual schools. Apart from nursery, primary and secondary schools, which
are almost lingual Arabic, English and French; all my other institutions are
bi-lingual.
And when you have an
institution that is bi-lingual, you have to go to an environment that is less influential
in one language. For instance, if I open the school in Nigeria, I will lean
towards English and the French content of the programme will not be well taken
care of.
So, it was better for
me to go to a French environment, to open the schools so that my aspiration for
the schools will be realised. My aspiration was to make the school a bi-lingual
school and that has been working. It’s an experiment.
In Nigeria, there are
lots of universities, but my university is different. The sort of courses we
do, my students, even from the secondary schools or university, are
self-reliant; they don’t need to look for work after leaving school because
they are equipped in different aspects of life.
Some people in Nigeria said
that you were arrested because your presence in the country might affect
voting in 2015, and that you were brought back to Nigeria in a presidential
jet…
I don’t think that is
true because I am speaking to you from Cotonou. So, the story of the
presidential jet is in the figment of the imagination of those who are saying
it.
I will be coming back
to Nigeria today because I will be made the District Head of my place, for the
final ceremony.
But there is the
possibility that the hands of politicians might be there because of my position
in support of (President) Goodluck (Jonathan), because so many people are
desperate. They are not trying to take power on behalf of the people, but to
fill their pockets and fill their stomachs. For that, they can kill; they can
go to any length in getting power.
So, I will not be
surprised if political interest was brought to bear (on my arrest). But I
Alhamdulillah, as Allah said in the Qur’an, for every difficulty, there is a
relief.
Today, I’ve been
quietly staying in the Republic of Benin; I did not have much contact with
government officials.
But with my arrest,
from the President (Boni Yayi) down, I have had contact with them. I have had
contact with the President, with all the relevant ministers. Everybody was at
the cell to release me; they accorded me all the niceties that hitherto I was
not enjoying.
Now, I have official
police protection from the Benin Republic, and free of charge. They know there
is a rich man in this country, who is not just an ordinary person.
I was going to the
clinic to pick my baby. I was very busy when my car was stopped. The next thing
I saw, I was whisked away.
I was hopeless when I
was in the cell. I was standing for 24 hours. I was chained to the bar and did
not sit down for 24 hours. I was praying to Allah because Allah delivered Jonah
from the belly of the whale.
I have 194 students on
my scholarship in secondary school, 52 people on my scholarship in higher
institution. I said, ‘if I am doing it genuinely for you, oh Allah, deliver me
from this problem that I have found myself.’
The period I was in
detention, they did not allow me to go (anywhere). So, if I wanted to urinate,
I did that inside my cell. It was a hopeless situation.
Between 10 o’clock in
the morning when they opened the door and removed the handcuff, the first thing
I said was Alhamdulillah. This is because it was so hopeless; all the people
who came to see me — all my staff — were all arrested.
What they wanted was
that I should be totally incommunicado so that nobody would tell the outside
world that I had been arrested or been kept anywhere. But in all that, Allah
found a way for me and bailed me out.
So, this is sad. I have
been arrested over 70 times.
Did you actually say that if
there was no Jonathan as President in 2015, there would be no Nigeria, and
blood would flow?
Yes, I did say so and
it’s a reaction to what other people had said. Our elder statesman, former
governor of old Kaduna State, said that if Jonathan became head of state, the
polity would become ungovernable; even if he succeeded, he would not be allowed
to rule.
And we are seeing
activities that are going on — that are pointing to that fact. I may not be as
close to Jonathan as some people think I am; that is the truth of the
matter.
A lot of people think
I’m close to Jonathan, maybe I am, but I may not be as close as people think I
am, because it is very difficult to be my friend.
But some people said you are
doing the President more damage than good (with your utterances)…
That is left for the
President to decide. I am not doing it for Goodluck Jonathan; I’m doing it
because of a struggle I started. Goodluck Jonathan just appeared on the scene;
he is not why we started our struggle. So, because of Goodluck Jonathan, we
would not stop our struggle; we will continue our struggle.
If in the course of our
struggle, it outlaws Jonathan or has some advantages for him, it is okay. We
would not say because it brings some advantages or disadvantages to him, we
would abandon our struggle; we will continue with our struggle.
If a man threatens me
or threatens my brother, it is for me to tell him that for every action, there
is an equal and opposite reaction. But you cannot threaten my brother and
expect me to fold my hands and look at you.
But Dokubo-Asari cannot
hurt anybody. In my school today, majority of my students are from the North of
Nigeria. Majority of my scholarship students, I took them to Hajj; they call me
daddy.
In fact, some of them,
with their fathers call me big daddy. If I call any of their fathers, for
instance, if we want to do something, they will say, “Wallahi, they are your
children; why are you calling us to ask questions about what you are doing with
your children?”
So, I have children
from Zamfara State, from Kano State, from Kebbi State, from Plateau State, and
from Kwara State who are on my scholarship.
Is it true that you are
married to a northerner?
I have been married to
a northerner. Currently, my wife is from Borno State. I had a wife from Borno
State before and I’m also married to a northerner.
If I hate the North, I
will not have over 20 children from the North on my scholarship. In my house
where I stay in Abuja, the Imam is from Zamfara State. I picked (took care of)
five of his children for the past five years. I’m trying to send one of them to
the university now.
The Imam of my
community, Musa, is from Nasarawa State. One of my managers is from Kaduna
State, from Zaria.
How is the maritime security
business going?
I don’t have the
maritime security job with government; maybe there is a mistake. It is Tompolo
(Government Ekpemupolo) doing the maritime security business with NIMASA. So,
I’m not involved in it at all.
What do you have to say on the
national confab?
In a situation where
you don’t make decision by yourself, as events come, you tackle them as they
come because, if we were to take decisions by ourselves, we would have
preferred a conference before elections (in 2015).
But the conference is
not sovereign. When we go to the conference, we will go with our agenda, the
agenda that we stand by. We want a Sovereign National Conference, not a
national conference.
If we boycott the
conference, we will not succeed. So, we would go to the conference even if we
have issues on the conference, on nomenclature because the conference should be
totally sovereign. Everything should be put on the table.
All of us are preparing
to go to the conference. I have started preparing to go to the conference. When
Obasanjo wanted me to go to the (National Constitutional) conference, I did not
go. If I had known, I would have gone.
But now, this one, we
are all ready to go to the conference and we believe our input would go a long
way in shaping the decision of the conference. This conference will actually
lead to a sovereign national conference.
What are the things you would
love to secure through the conference?
What we want to secure
at the conference is very clear: that the people should decide on what they
would want to be. If Ijaw people want to be in Nigeria, there should be a
memorandum; that’s the ultimate.
(Former Ghanaian
President Kwame) Nkrumah said, “Seek ye the political kingdom and all other
things would be added on to you.”
We are going there with
a political agenda; the political agenda is that we are seeking political kingdom,
which is that all peoples, from 1893, the kingdom from old Calabar… this treaty
is the only one binding on us. All other treaties are not binding.
The singular demand we
are seeking at the conference is simple: Our people, having signed treaties
with the British government, now want that these treaties should be validated
and we should be allowed to go our separate ways and form a separate
country.
People who decide can
form union and become one country like Europe coming together.
All of us are preparing to go
to the conference. I have started preparing to go to the conference. When
Obasanjo wanted me to go to the (National Constitutional) conference, I did not
go. If I had known, I would have gone. But now, this one, we are all ready to
go to the conference and we believe our input would go a long way in shaping
the decision of the conference. This conference will actually lead to a
sovereign national conference.
Source: Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment