Mujahidat, the first wife of detained leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Dokubo Asari, has been finding it pretty hard to cope with life without her husband.

She says "it has not been easy. it is pretty difficult coping without my husband. am just like a woman who lost her husband. i no longer see my husband, i dont hear from him, i only see him briefly in court whenever the hearing of his case (treason) comes up in court."

She is not alone in missing Asari Dokubo. Her little kids are also yet to come to terms why their dad is not home. Little Habibat is six and has not seen her father for 20 months.

"Every woman will definitely miss her husband. even his children miss him. the kids are still small. they need the influence of their father at home which is very important. it is pretty difficult bringing up this children without their father especially when it is a male child" Mujahidat says.

The wife of the detailed Niger Delta rebel leader has to travel hundreds of miles to Abuja, the federal capital, to catch a glimpse of her husband whenever he is arraigned in court.

This was not the case when he was in police custody. He has reportedly been detained by the state security service in defiance of court orders that he remains in police custody.

"I dont see him any longer because they dont allow people to see him. when he was with the police last year, sometimes they alloow me but sometimes they dont. but since he has been clamped into the SSS detention camp, nobody sees him, even his lawyer, his doctor and family members are not allowed to see him. they dont even allow the doctor to see him. nobody goes near. nobody is allowed to go there unless when they bring him to court. when they bring him to court is like something else is happening because they have about eight security checkpoints with armoured cars."

One major concern for the mother of two is the health condition of her husband. "when they brought him out about three weeks ago, they brought him out because of his deterioriating health condition to take him to the hospital. he is urinating 50 times a day and this gives cause for alarm and should not be taken lightly. before he was detained, asari weighed 144kg but the last time he came out he was weighing 92kg"