«§» 15 February 2015The leader of Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo remains the close ally of President Jonathan despite all circumstances.In a recent interview with Vanguard’s Levinus Nwabughiogul, Dokubo expresses his views on elections’ postponement, Jonathan’s chances, behaviour of the opposition, explains advantages of Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) over the modern Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
About the postponement of the electionsAsari-Dokubo is not really happy about the postponement. He has been working really hard during the electoral campaign:
“I was addressing Muslims in Lagos on the 31st of January and I collapsed because I had not been having enough sleep and time for myself. I had thought that the elections would come for me to go the Saudi Arabia and thank Allah for the victory he has granted us.”He further described the negative attitude of the USA on the issue as “hypocritical”.
“Nigeria is a sovereign state. It is not a satellite of the United States of America,” Dokubo noted.
He admitted that the delay in PVCs’ distribution indeed happened but neither President Jonathan and the PDP, nor the INEC may be held responsible for it. At the same time, the opposition, who “is working with the insurgents” may be behind the unfortunate development:
“God is revealing these people. Who are collecting the PVCs in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe States? How come Borno and Yobe have collected more PVCs than Lagos, Rivers, Imo States? Who is deliberately hoarding the PVCs? Is it Goodluck Jonathan? Have they compromised INEC? I was a member of ACN, so I know how they operate during elections. I know that before elections, when PDP is dealing with the top cadre of the security agencies, APC relates with the DPOs, DCOs, the rank and file. It is not a wild allegation. I can give evidence.”On why ACN = APCAsari-Dokubo said he knew the methods of the opposition, as he had been in contact with its leadership, had friends there. The ACN had transmuted into the APC, meaning the new party was just a brand.
“All the others are just affiliates. They are associates. The driving force of the party is ACN. They are using the so-called idle followership of Buhari in the North. The machine, the intelligentsia, the think tank, everything is ACN. That is the way they rig election,” Asari-Dokubo noted.
“PVC is not in our law. PVC testing machine is not known to our law.”As long as the INEC failed to distribute the PVCs, Dokubo thinks the use of the TVCs should have been allowed:
“We should use the temporary one. There is no e-voting. So, we should go back to the temporary voter card. INEC is deliberately disenfranchising some Nigerians. The constitutional right of a person is sacred to vote and be voted for.”
“You advocate for 100 percent collection of the PVC but do you think it is possible for everyone to collect his PVC? Besides, no law has said so.”The NDPVF leader mentioned that the present situation cannot be seen as a conspiracy against democracy. He noted that in Rivers State only 56% of voters have their cards. Even Dokubo’s wife still had not collected it.
About crisis in the Nigerian economyAsari-Dokubo disagrees that the economy is down because of Jonathan’s decisions and actions. He reminded that the recession is global and many countries are affected by it, including the UK, Japan, Russia, Dubai, Ghana and Angola.
He further explained how the opposition contributed to the negative trend in Nigeria:
“On a television interview posted online, one of the campaign managers of General Buhari was seen with loads of dollars in his Bosom pockets. But he struggled to cover it. How can leaders be spending dollars and not Naira, thereby depleting the foreign exchange capacity of the country? And we know that most of them don’t spend Naira. They spend dollars, pounds and euros. That is what is causing the crisis in the economy. It is more demands for foreign currency than we earn from our resources and so the economy will be going down. It is all Nigerians that must work. Whatever policy on the ground, money laundering policy, etcetera, if the people are not ready to abide by the rules, hard and stringent economy rules, then we will have a problem.”“We are doing well even at war.”Dokubo quoted his friend, a military man, hinting Jonathan to remove all the northern Muslims soldiers from the battle front. Eradication of “moles” would pave the victory in the war against terrorism.
“People had leaked their (soldiers’) movement to Boko Haram. They went into an ambush. How did they know? No vehicle passed them. So, people are there who have a means of communication before they move. That the president should bring jet fighters to bomb and make sure it is northern Christians and southerners that fly these aircraft.”Such an action cannot be considered as a genocide, and Dokubo explains why:
“These people are betraying. It is happening everywhere. These northerners are fifth columnists.”About Jonathan’s achievements– Nigeria is becoming another food basket in Africa. Nigeria is coming back in all areas of agriculture: commercial agriculture and subsistent agriculture.
– Transportation sector: the railway is working. The roads are being rehabilitated. New roads are being constructed. Now look at the airports. Today, a government is constructing four modern airports, not the remodeling: Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Kano, all brand new being constructed by the Chinese.
– 12 universities were opened in one year.
– There is the implementation of the Local Content Act, the Cabotage Act which is now bringing Nigerians into the oil and gas and marine business. People are making money, those who are ready to work. Even his (Jonathan’s) opponents are benefitting from YouWin.
Is Jonathan an ethnic president? Shall he win?Dokubo strongly disagrees that ethnic origin has anything to do with Jonathan’s rule:
“A man that has his security adviser from the North. When Yar’Adua was there, who was the Chief of Army Staff? Who was the Chief of Defence Staff? Who were the people around Yar’Adua? When Obasanjo was there, who were those people around him? Who was the DG of DSS? Now in Jonathan’s government, the Defense Minister is from North. The national security adviser, North, IG of police, North, Controller-General of Customs, North. These are all Gambari. When they were in government, let them show us if that was how they ran the government. So, how is he an ethnic president? His Principal Secretary is a Gambari man. Chief of Staff is a Yoruba man. The Minister of Finance is Igbo. The Minister of Works is Ishan. The Minister of Police Affairs, Yoruba So, how is he an ethnic president?”Dokubo is convinced in the victory of the present administration.
“We will win. They will complain and we are ready for them. This election is between me and the Gambari North.”Dokubo considers calls by the DSS as a “routine thing” and he got used to such “invitations”, put the total number of his detentions to 73.
“Under the late General Sani Abacha, it was a weekly thing. Under former President Obasanjo, the same. Now, it is less but I am used to it,” he concluded.
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