Leader of the defunct Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF,
Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo, has called for the immediate arrest and
prosecution of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy,
Atiku Abubakar, for their alleged roles in the ongoing crisis rocking
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He also asked President Goodluck Jonathan to clamp down on members of
the Abubakar Kawu Baraje led “New PDP”, particularly associates of the
seven aggrieved governors, as a warning that their illegal activities
will not be condoned.
Mr. Asari-Dokubo, who made these views known in an interview culled
from PREMIUM TIMES in Abuja on Tuesday, however, kept mute over the role
of former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who he said had
remained indifferent to the cause of either the breakaway group or the
mainstream PDP led by Bamanga Tukur.
It would be recalled that on August 31, while the PDP special
national convention was ongoing with President Jonathan and other PDP
delegates seated, Atiku and the PDP governors of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto,
Kwara, Rivers, Adamawa and Niger States staged a walk out from Eagle
Square venue of the mini-convention and converged on the Shehu Yar’Adua
Centre where they later announced the birth of the “New PDP” under the
chairmanship of Baraje.
Mr Obasanjo, who volunteered to mediate in the crisis with the help
of other PDP elders including Mr Babangida, Chief Tony Anenih, former
Chairmen of the party, Ahmadu Ali and Barnabas Gemade among others,
failed in that effort as the feuding parties refused to shift grounds.
Most members of the “New PDP” are political associates of the former
president which led to speculations that Mr Obasanjo was playing the
hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob in the entire saga.
“’Obasanjo should be arrested and detained, yes and Atiku (Abubakar),” Mr. Asari-Dokubo said.
“They are ordinary citizens of this country they are nobody. They are
nobody. I don’t know about Babangida, he has not come out to talk about
where he belongs.”
The NDPVF leader, who frowns at being called a former militant, said
there was no need treating members of the Baraje faction with kid
gloves, noting that with their action, they had shown that they were
miscreants and should be treated as such.
According to him, members of the faction contravened the Electoral
Act by setting up a secretariat for a party that was non-existent.
According to him, “Those political miscreants; the president should
use a hammer against them. There’s no basis indulging these miscreants;
they should be treated as such.
“There’s only one registered PDP known to INEC and Tukur is the
chairman of that PDP. For the president to indulge them is a slap on the
face of politics. He should have hit them if they go against the law.
“If you set up a secretariat for a party that’s not ready, then they
should be arrested and detained. There’s no party called new PDP. They
should be treated as a lawbreaker.”
Reminded of the constitutional immunity enjoyed by the governors that
shields them from arrest, Mr. Asari-Dokubo said, “(Since) the governors
enjoy immunity, they should pick people around them, then they will
know.”
He berated his state governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State
describing him as “a traitor” even as he alleged that the president was
shielding the governor by his frequent visits to Rivers State.
“Amaechi is a traitor to all people, traitor to the interest of all
members of the South-South and the South-East. He should be treated like
a traitor.
“The President is shielding Amaechi; he is not fighting him, if not he shouldn’t be coming to Port Harcourt every day.”
-PREMIUM TIMES
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