“Asari Dokubo Must Be Arrested Over 2015 War Threat ” – APC Tells SSS

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has
described as reckless, irresponsible and totally
condemnable the threat by Mujahedeen Asari-
Dokubo to levy war against Nigeria if President
Goodluck Jonathan is defeated even in a free and
fair election in 2015.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party said despite the attacks by
oil militants in the Niger Delta and the ongoing
insurgency by Boko Haram in some parts of the
North, Nigeria had not witnessed a clearer and
louder call to war than Asari-Dokubo’s senseless
vituperation since the country’s civil war ended in
1970.
It said Nigerians were waiting to see what the
SSS, which recently detained for many hours the
APC’s Deputy National Secretary, Nasir El-Rufai
over his warning against election rigging in 2015,
would do now that an ally of President Jonathan
had threatened the very existence of Nigeria, by
saying he and his fellow militants would cripple
the economy of the country not only in the creeks
but also in Nigeria’s territorial waters.
‘’What on earth gave Asari-Dokubo the confidence
to issue threats against a whole nation? If he
does not 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-
allowable two terms of eight years’ or the
militants will 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,’’ APC said.
It said Asari-Dokubo has overstretched his luck
by trying to dictate to political parties to field
only South-South candidates for the presidency in
2015, wondering what gave him the audacity to
make such a careless statement.
‘’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,’’ the party said.
It said the SSS must act immediately or be
damned.’ “There is no better test of the fairness,
non-partisanship and professionalism of the SSS
than this Asari-Dokubo’s threat to levy war on
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,’’ APC said.