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
