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.
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.
“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.
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.
