Dilemma of Igboman called Asari Dokubo
One incident people have assumed that Alhaji Asari Dokubo, the leader Niger Delta Volunteer Force, (NDVF) will not forget in a hurry in his whole life is his incarceration by the erstwhile president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for a period of one year and ten months. And thy are correct. That affecting the window of his happiness, when he was released in June, 2007, he said: “It has been one year and nine months since I was taken into detention by the wicked general known as Olusegun Obasanjo.” In the makeshift days of Asari ordeal in the hand of Baba Iyabo, he was kept in solitary confinement where neither mosquito nor fly was found. The cell was artic! In his own word: “In that environment where I was detained many people went mad. At least, I know of four people that went mad and started stripping themselves naked. They did all sorts of things like using their buttocks to throw at detainees and smear the cell walls.”
It could be because of the unfavourable treatment meted out to inmates that made the detainees go gaga. Asari has this to say: “Food was passed to me through metal gauge. I eat and I give it back to them.” Asari confesses that in his entire life he had not experienced hardship. “In my entire life before my arrest, I’ve never seen poverty and suffering of that magnitude. I’ve always had more than enough and the best of all things.”
All the good things Asari had in his possession was short-lived by Obasanjo; Asari believes that why Obasanjo took the action of arresting him was to weaken the will power in him.. “But he was disappointed,” Asari snaps. “Because each time he comes up he finds that I was very strong.”
Asari was doing his exercises and reading his Quaran 24 hours a day. “For about three months, I was weighing 139, now I am weighing 87 at Thursday when I was granted bail.”
While Asari was in the gulag, one lesson he learnt was spiritual lesson. “I have leanrt o pray and I want to keep it up. I learn to be closer to God.” Lesson for the struggle? Asari said it has made him to be stronger. "Whatever has happened in my life, God has destined it. I am a creation of the Ijaw struggle. Over 50 of my commanders have died while I was in prison.”
In assessing the then Obasajo-led government, Asari believes the government was the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria. “Because his government made more money than all the governments starting from when we started self government from 1956 to date.”
As a strong critic of Obasanjo government, Asari continued. “Obasanjo's eight years of governance was characterized by fraud. There is nothing to show for it, no good roads, all infrastructures are dead. If we don’t bring General Obasanjo to justice, if we don’t bring this evil man to justice, there is no way this entity called Nigeria can move forward. A man who invested more money in power sector, 60 times more than what has been invested in the period of the existence of the entity called Nigeria.”
Asari does not subscribe to the “Father of modern Nigeria” conferred on Obasanjo by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “Obasanjo could not generate up to 3000 mega watts of power. And this man will be talking and people will say he is the father of modern Nigeria. Known criminals were in his government. Known criminals were his closest associates.”
Asari said he has made a contract with himself and his God that he will fight Obasanjo until he is brought to justice. “For the gross abuse of human rights, endemic corruption and inefficiency that were widespread in his government, in which he pretended to cloth himself in the garb of morality and incorruptible.”
The elections of 2007, Asari said: “I don’t know how the elections went because I had no access to newspapers or television. But since I came out on Thursday, I have been told that it was “do-or-die.”
Asari who was 43 years of age in June 1, 2007 condemned his arrest and cited instances for his reason. “In Canada, Quebec is fighting for self determination, nobody has gone there to arrest people and lock them up and occupy Quebec. Quebec has carried out there plebiscites to see whether they want to leave Canada and each time, the plebiscites would be defeated and they are still in Canada.
“(Arare) in Morocco, which Spain handed over to Morocco is preparing for plebiscite. In South Africa, there is agitation among the Zulus for a Zulu nation. Nobody has gone to arrest Zulu leaders.”
The incarceration is a scope in the wheel of Asari’s happiness but it does not shortchange his ambition. “But Uwazuruike and I had never been given fair hearing. Judges were imported. Judicial proceedings were manipulated. What sort of justice is that?” Asari asks.
Death being a must-come does not move Asari. He remembers his mother that death took at the prime age of 28, and hates what he says is unjustly treatment being mated out to him and his people. “Look at Port Harcourt in 20yrs time it will remain the same. I was in detention in Abuja when I came out I couldn’t recognize Area One.”
Though many people see Asari as a scourge, militant, and so on but he was given a heroic welcome when he was released. Kalabaris and Niger Delta people recognized his sterling potentials. Asari was humbled by the show of love and affection of his people and this could probably led him to condemn hostage taking. “We must condemn it in all ramifications. If we want others to do justice to us, we must do justice to other people.”
Asari says he has not given his people anything but they have given him so much. He does not subscribe to the saying that a prophet is not recognized in his hometown because he has honour in his hometown. He went to Buguma when he came back. “There I was made a chief by the Amananyabo of Kalabari, His Majesty, King Theophilus Amachree XI," he says. "I was given a title known as SEBROMABO, which means the saviour of the nation.”
As if that was not enough, Asari was made a chief and accepted into the Obama council of Chiefs. Also, at his maternal home, his mother’s people made him a chief. Asari expressing his happiness said: “I am now Alabo Alhaji Mujahid Abubakir Dokubo Asari, Edi Abali.”
Trying to clear the air on the name Edi Abali because it is an Igbo name, Asari said: “The name of the chieftaincy house that made me chief is known as Edi Abali. You will be surprised that it is an Igbo name. Yes, my grandfather was an Igbo man who came to Kalabari land. He was brought there by King Amachree and became one of the richest men in his time.”
By Odimegwu Onwumere
Onwumere is a poet and author writes from Rivers State.
Email: nzeprince@mail.com (08032552855)