A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), has called for the arrest of an ex-Niger Delta militants, including Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari and Government Ekpudomenowei(akaTompolo) for threatening to declare war against the nation if President Goodluck loses the February 14 election. Danjuma, who described the threat as “unguarded and reckless,” warned that “miscreants” must not be allowed to hold the country by the jugular.
“You should arrest Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boyloaf and other Niger Delta militants for making reckless statements, which in any way does not mean keeping Nigeria as one entity. They create a war situation.
“Those were reckless statements coming from irresponsible individuals; they should be condemned and arrested immediately,” he said.
Dokubo-Asari, had at a meeting on Friday at the Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, urged an end to what he termed, the intimidation of the Ijaw by other Nigerians.
“For every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharaoh, there is a Moses. We are going to war. Every one of you should go and fortify yourself,” he said.
At the meeting were Governor Seriake Dickson, Ekpudomenowei, Victor Ebikabowei (aka Boy Loaf), the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku and the President General, the Ijaw Youth Council, Udengs Eradiri. Boyloaf also said at the meeting that if the North succeeded in regaining power on February 14, the people of the Niger Delta would take their oil back.
However, Danjuma while inaugurating the Kwankwasiyya City alongside Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Wednesday wondered why Dokubo-Asari and Ebikabowei were heating up the polity. He reminded them that since Nigeria and its resources belonged to everyone, no one must hold the government to ransom.
The former Defence minister, therefore, urged the necessary government agencies to immediately arrest the ex-militants.
“In a situation like this, the issue of entrenching peace in the country is what is needed most. We should not allow some miscreants to hold us to ransom,” he said.
Danjuma, who served as a Defence minister during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, added:
“Nigeria belongs to everybody and we must do everything possible to safeguard her unity.”
He also asked politicians to stop making utterances capable of overheating the polity. The former minister said:
“As we are approaching election time, we must strive to ensure that important issues are thoroughly discussed but not personalities. We want to have a perfect election where no one would have an axe to grind with anybody.
“Once politicians base their campaigns on issues not personalities and avoid anything capable of causing disaffection, I am confident that we would have foul-free elections.”
He commended Kwankwaso for providing physical infrastructure in the last four years and described the Kwankwasiyya City as one of the modern edifices in the current democratic dispensation.