ABUJA —
Ahead of 2015 general elections, Northern youths engaged former President of
Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) and Leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer
Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, in a war of words over the
re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Dokubo had fired the first salvo while
addressing a press conference in Abuja as he declared that the Niger Delta
region cannot guarantee peace in Nigeria if President Jonath- an is not
returned in 2015.
He also stated that after Jonathan’s presidency,
the region will resume claim to the resources in the oil-rich Niger-Delta,
saying that they are currently on sabbatical leave.
The Arewa youths, however, responded immediately
warning Asari Dokubo to desist from beating the drums of war over the
re-election of President Jonathan in 2015.
They said
that the choice of Nigeria’s next president would be determined by Nigerians
and not Ijaw militants or pipeline contractors.
Asari Dokubo in the interview pointed out that
the reason there is relative peace in the country, especially in South-South
geo-political zone currently is not because of the amnesty granted to
Niger Delta ex-militants by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s regime in
2010, but Jonathan’s presidency.
Asari who spoke on a wide range of national
issues also said that contrary to the claims of Jonathan’s critics that his
administration is visionless, the administration has surpassed the previous
ones in terms of provision of social infrastructure.
He 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. Kingsely 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 (ACN) 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 uninterrupted 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.”
“For very long time, our resources from
the Niger Delta has been used to feed and fund Nigeria, and some people are
still feeling that Nigeria is their personal property, and they can manage it
the way they like, but those days are gone forever, it can never come back
again.
Reacting to Dokubo’s threat, the President of
Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, described it as an
unfortunate outburst borne out of ignorance and mischief ostensibly to elicit
cheap patronage from The Presidency.
Shettima regretted the statement credited to
Dokubo, saying that it was wrong for the President to allow the former warlord
to be speaking for him, thereby giving himself out as an ethnic Ijaw
leader and not the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was
popularly elected based on the goodwill and support of the generality of Nigerians.
He said, “President Jonathan should stop these
elements from talking as if they alone elected him into office in 2011.”
Source: Vangaurd
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