The build-up to the February 2015 general elections, especially as it concerns the fate of President Goodluck Jonathan in the February 14 presidential election has been generating ripples across of the country.
The controversy over the presidential poll assumed a new twist following the argument for and against the eligibility of Jonathan to seek re-election for the highest political office in the country and Jonathan’s kinsmen in the Niger Delta, especially those of Ijaw stock, who probably smelt a rat over alleged clandestine moves by some powerful political gladiators to edge him out of the contest have mustered concerted efforts to back and protect “their own” in the countdown to the election.
Consequently, youths and leaders of the Ijaw ethnic nationality were undaunted in strong defence of the constitutional right of President Jonathan to seek re-election, despite insinuations in many quarters that their action has virtually reduced and restricted the support base of the President to the Ijaw axis of the oil-rich belt. The trend assumed a worrisome dimension when the former militant commanders and their followers in the region took up the gauntlet to demand unequivocal reelection of Jonathan as a sine-qua-non for harmony and peaceful co-existence in the country. The former militant commanders, who emerged as the political and economic elites of the region in the aftermath of the amnesty proclamation by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and unprecedented patronage and unhindered access to the seat of power under the Jonathan administration, effortlessly pushed the traditional elites of the region into the obscurity. As the latest super-rich, they direct the political direction of the region while their elders had no choice but to take a cue from them.
In order to sustain the political and economic hegemony which the Jonathan administration has bestowed them, some of them have considered the renewal of the mandate of President Jonathan as a task that must be accomplished by all means possible. The survival instincts had pushed the former fighters to threaten war in the event that their benefactor was denied a return to the seat of power in Abuja in February 2015, even in a free and fair contest.
From the relatively unknown to the big shots among the former militants, the message was very clear: Jonathan must be re-elected or the country would be rendered ungovernable in the aftermath of the election.
The former militants, whose arguments, in most cases, were characteristically lacking intellectual depth, sound and logical reasoning, tied the continuous corporate existence of the country to the re-election of their kinsman.
In one of its numerous statements over the fate of Jonathan in the forthcoming presidential election, a militant group, the Niger Delta Progressive Alliance, NDPA, said the re-election of Jonathan would not be compromised. NDPA’s President General, Mr. Angonemi Fedude, and General Secretary, Akpata Okorodudu, who signed one of the statements, threatened that in the event of any attempt by any individual or group to deprive him (Jonathan) of his rights, “we have resolved to match force with force, even if it will lead to Nigeria’s disintegration.”
A former militant commander in Okirika, the country home of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in Rivers State, Ateke Tom, coordinated the onslaught against Governor Rotimi Amaeachi, who was being accused of scuttling the reelection of Jonathan by his romance with the opposition and political enemies of the President, in the state.
In line with the threat by the former fighters to remove all impediments to Jonathan’s re-election, Tom had initiated various moves to make the state ungovernable for Amaechi in retaliation for his alleged anti-Jonathan actions and tendencies.
Perhaps the most vociferous voice in the clamour for the perpetuation of Jonathan’s presidency in the Niger Delta is the leader of the proscribed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari-Dokubo. Asari-Dokubo, who serially issues threats over the reelection of Jonathan, became the guest of the State Security Service, SSS, on Thursday, February 6, following an interview he granted the National Mirror, in which he warned that his kinsmen would foment trouble if Jonathan failed to secure a second term mandate.
Asari-Dokubo boasted that the people of the Niger Delta would make the country ungovernable in the event that Jonathan was not re-elected in the 2015 presidential election.
He also asked Nigerians of Northern extraction not to seek election into the highest political office in the country on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and that the main opposition political group, All Progressive Congress, APC, should field a presidential candidate from the South/South geopolitical zone to challenge Jonathan in the forthcoming election.
He warned: “If it is war the North wants, we are ready for them, because Jonathan must complete the mandatory constitutionally allowable two terms of eight years. At home, we have re-grouped and we have put our people at alert.
In less than one hour, the way we would strike, the world will be shocked. “If anybody does anything against Jonathan, we will retaliate. What we will do will shock the whole world. We will cripple the economy of the country not only in the creeks, but also on the nation’s territorial waters, no vessel will be allowed to enter Nigeria’s territorial waters.
“Let them not try anything. If they abuse Jonathan, there is no problem, he is their President but anything that will affect the interest of the Ijaw people and the interest of the entire people of the Niger Delta, will be resisted at any cost. “Let them go and sleep in their houses. If they don’t, they are looking for trouble and we are going to give it to them.
“It will make better sense if APC picks its presidential candidate from the South/South. With that there will be no battle for us to fight and it will make it easier for us. Whichever way it goes, it will enable us to continue our right of uninterrupted rule of eight years, which is the minimum constitutional requirement.
“They cannot take that from the South-South and we will not accept it because every part of the country must have equal access to the various institutions of government, especially at the federal level.”
However, Asari-Dokubo, who claimed that his quest for a second term ticket for Jonathan was not informed by pecuniary gains, insisted that contrary to the popular insinuation, that Jonathan was not patronising him. He claimed that he had only benefited from oil pipeline surveillance contract, which was awarded to all key players in the region, adding that some persons “even ran away with the proceeds and the government has not renewed the contract thereafter.”
“I have not done any other thing with the Jonathan’s administration and the records are there. Jonathan’s administration is not patronising me as some people are claiming.
Our struggle is not for pecuniary gains, it is about the very existence of our people and our rights as bonafide citizens of this country,” Asari-Dokubo told National Mirror, in a recent interview.
In reaction to Asari-Dokubo’s unrepentant threats over the re-election of Jonathan, the APC called for his arrest by the SSS, describing his position as reckless and totally condemnable.
“What on earth gave Asari-Dokubo the confidence to issue threats against a whole nation? If he doesn’t care about elections and democracy, how else could his hero, President Jonathan, have come to power? Does he know the meaning of anarchy? Does he think anyone, no matter how big, is more important than his country or bigger than its constitution?
“When he said President Jonathan must complete the mandatory constitutionally-allowed two terms of eight years or the militants would make Nigeria ungovernable, was he aware that even the North that has become his favourite whipping boy did not complete its own eight years before his kinsman became President?
“It is not Asari-Dokubo’s fault. When we warned against the handing over of the nation’s maritime security to a company owned by a former militant in 2012, many thought we were crying wolf where none existed. But the threat by a former militant to ensure that no vessel will be allowed to enter the nation’s territorial waters unless President Jonathan is re-elected has shown the dangers inherent in such actions,” the APC said.
The party added in a statement signed by its interim Natuional Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed: “We in the APC will never be cowed by the senseless, emotional outburst of a man whose sense of decency stretches the size of a coin. We make bold to say that Nigeria will survive and thrive, whether or not some people want it.
“We reiterate the truism that election is the bedrock of democracy, and that anointing of candidates – as Asari- Dokubo would want Nigeria’s political parties to do is the very antithesis of democracy.
“There is no better test of the fairness, non-partisanship and professionalism of the SSS than this Asari- Dokubo’s threat to wage war against his own country. If Asari-Dokubo is not above the laws of the land, he must be hauled before the SSS, just like the service did to our deputy national secretary, to explain his statement.”
The fiery Niger Delta fighter sounded recalcitrant moment after regaining his freedom from the SSS custody, giving conditions for peace ahead of the 2015 presidential election. The NDPVF leader said he told the SSS that he would stop inflammatory comments about the 2015 poll if the agency could also prevail on Muhammadu Buhari, Nasir el-Rufai and other leaders of the opposition group to do same.
Asari-Dokubo, who appeared unperturbed by his latest experience with the SSS, vowed that he would never be intimidated by arrest and detention by the security agencies not to counter the leaders of the opposition and drop the legitimate clamour for the re-election of Jonathan.
Speaking about his 74th ordeal with the security agency, Asari-Dokubo, said: “For me as a person, it shows that we are playing on a level playing ground, it shows that the security agencies can arrest anybody and that Nigerians, especially politicians should watch their utterances. For me, I have made sacrifice for others to keep quiet.
“The opposition are the one in a tight situation; if we are asked to keep quiet after all we are in power already. With the latest development, they (opposition) would not have the opportunity to talk recklessly the way they have been doing.
“For me as a person, nobody can take my right to talk from me but I have assured the SSS that if the other side (opposition) maintains decorum, we too will maintain decorum. If they don’t, we too will not. We must all be treated equally. “Buhari is not greater than Asari-Dokubo and certainly, the midget, el-Rufai, is not in any way greater than Asari-Dokubo. We must be treated equally before the law.
Buhari, el-Rufai and their co-travellers must be called to order by the authorities and they must maintain decorum. “In as much as they maintain decorum and do not run their mouth recklessly, we are also going to keep quit. But for every action of them, we are going give equal reaction. We have not been initiating violence; they are the one who have been initiating violence.
We react because nobody has a monopoly of violence. “Everybody has one life and they don’t have the right to threaten fire and brimstone and we are not going to fold our hands whenever they threaten chaos and crisis over the election.
We will not initiate any action but we are going to react appropriately to any action initiated by them,” he added. With the adamant posture of the former militants in the Niger Delta, it is certain that the stage is set for a titanic battle over the 2015 general elections.
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