30 June 2023
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday pleaded with the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately arrest prominent Niger Delta leader and former agitator, Asari Dokubo, for alleged unlawful possession of assault rifles and threat to life and property of Igbo people in the country.
The group threatened it would mobilise nationwide protests, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, if the Federal Government fails to make the arrest.
The civil rights advocacy group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, gave the administration of President Bola Tinubu 72 hours to put Dokubo behind bars or risk unprecedented protests across the country.
The group said the DSS or any other security agency must arrest Dokubo over alleged link to ‘unknown gunmen’ in the South East.
Recall that earlier in June, Dokubo made startling revelations when he visited Tinubu at the Aṣọ Villa in Abuja.
Dokubo said: “I am a participant in this war. I fought on the side of the Federal Government in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers states. And in Abuja, today, you can travel to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that made it possible; it is my men, employed by the Federal Government, stationed in the Niger Delta.”
Also, in a viral video, Dokubo brandished multiple AK-47 rifles and threatened to kill Igbo, because they supported Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the February 25 presidential poll against his preferred candidate, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
HURIWA claimed that the video has been verified to be authentic by media houses, adding that the ex-Niger Delta agitator should be arrested for gunrunning and threatening to kill Igbo.
To show his deep-seated hate for Igbo, according to the group, Dokubo publicly requested that the President should not release detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), NnamdiKanu.
The group said: “The Federal Government must arrest Dokubo now or would be asking Igbo youths, lovers of Igbo and all groups that support the well-being of Igbo people to begin peaceful protests, simultaneously.
“Illegality must not be allowed to continue while security agencies pretend not to know or wilfully not take action. Nigeria is not a Banana Republic.” The nations
