Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), on Monday, said it will write world leaders over the failure of the Federal Government to arrest prominent Niger Delta leader and former agitator, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo despite glaring evidence that he is a threat to the Nigerian state and the Nigerian people.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it is concerning that the administration of President Bola Tinubu seems to be afraid of Asari-Dokubo despite that the ex-agitator is threatening to destroy the country if arrested for unlawful possession of assault rifles and threat to the lives and property of Igbo people in the country.
The group said the Tinubu government is creating a monster out of Asari-Dokubo who dared the military to arrest him and he would crumble Nigeria’s oil production to zero.
HURIWA had previously issued a 72-hour ultimatum for the Federal Government to arrest Asari-Dokubo over his suspected link to the violent phenomenon of ‘unknown gunmen’ in the South-East or risk unprecedented protests that would reverberate all over the country.
Asari-Dokubo, who visited Tinubu last month, had in a viral video brandished multiple AK-47 rifles and threatened to kill Igbos because they supported Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll against the ex-militant’s preferred candidate in the person of Tinubu, the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu afraid of Asari-Dokubo so much so that he is threatening to destroy Nigeria? We call on the President to immediately disarm this Asari-Dokubo and his mercenaries before he becomes like the Wagner founder in Russia.
“The Federal Government must take steps to rein in Asari-Dokubo and his threats against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“HURIWA will be writing to world leaders on these threats to Igbos and Nigeria by Asari-Dokubo and we are asking all Nigerians to take interest in how the Federal Government beginning from Muhammadu Buhari’s junta to the current dispensation is building a Frankenstein monster out of Asari-Dokubo.
“He has also threatened to attack us if we stage protests against him. Let the Nigerian Government take action as soon as possible. We are meeting with other CSOs to strategize our next move keeping in mind the need to keep our members safe from attacks by a man who publicly confesses that he is armed with deadly weapons.
“We call on the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Police Force to provide protection for citizens staging peaceful protests to stave off the occurrence of violence been unleashed as threatened by Asari Dokubo.
“It is worrisome that the President is busy wining and dining with Asari-Dokubo whilst he releases a cocktail of threats and insults to the institutions of government including the DSS, the Army and the military establishments. This is unbelievable and can only happen in a banana republic. Certainly, if we proceed to stage protests as contemplated and Asari Dokubo attack us using his armed mercenaries, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not bring him to justice given that it is glaring that he is actively working for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. So, we will take a decision that wouldn’t imperial the lives of our members given the threats by Dokubo to shed blood of protesters as coded in his recent diatribe against HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).”
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko
National Coordinator
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA)
