Mujahid
Dokubo-Asari
|
Founder
of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPV), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo,
was in his elements, spitting fire in an explosive interview with The
Nation on Sunday. He spoke of his people’s alleged desire for Nigeria’s
separation, as well as on burning political issues – everything from ongoing
infighting within the People’s Democratic Party, President Goodluck Jonathan’s
2015 ambitions to the insurgency in the North East. Excerpts:
What is
your assessment of the Amnesty Programme?
For me
the way the amnesty programme is being managed, it has brought a lot of
positive result. A lot of people have been trained; there has never been any
adult scholarship programme in Nigeria that has trained as many people as the
amnesty programme has done. A lot of people have been given a new lease of
life; a lot of people have changed for the better.
Are you
satisfied with the programme so far?
I think
the name amnesty should be changed. It should be a collective programme for the
people of the oil-bearing communities in Niger Delta. It is wrong for you to
single out a group of people. These people when they started their agitation,
according to them, they were not agitating for themselves, they were agitating
on behalf of the people, so you cannot go on and give them a bribe (amnesty
programme) in total exclusion of the people they claimed they were fighting
for. And it is also wrong for them to accept the amnesty because they were
delegates and they considered themselves as delegates, so they were on errand
for the people. So, morally it is wrong. So, the programme should be given to
the oil-bearing communities and not the whole of Niger Delta. It should be
given to communities who have suffered deprivation, degradation of their
environment and social dislocation.
Are you
suggesting expanding the scope of the amnesty?
Yes, the
amnesty programme, as presently constituted, is criminalised because first, you
have to demoralise the people, criminalise the people to grant them a pardon,
which is wrong. Then the people who accept amnesty have betrayed the people
because when they started they said they were fighting on behalf of the people,
so if you go and accept benefit and that benefit does not translate to the
improvement of lives of those people, then you have betrayed the people.
Is it in
terms of benefit they have betrayed the people?
Yes, it
is in terms of benefit because if they take the amnesty, they go for training
and they are paid N65,000 while the generality of the people who they claimed
they were fighting for did not have such benefit.
In spite
of the programme, we still have prevalence of oil theft and people are now
saying the amnesty is not succeeding. What is your take on this?
That is
why the amnesty is wrong, the amnesty is immoral. It is for 30,000 people as
against the millions of people from the oil-bearing communities. Why were they
singled out? Other people said, “Oh, so una dey give them bribe, oya now, make
we see whether that bribe go work.” So the people own the oil, they own the
land in which the oil comes from and if they single out other people and give
them and leave others, then they will take from the pipeline because everything
you are saying is in the pipeline.
Are
ex-militants behind oil theft?
I don’t
know who a militant is; I have never known them. I don’t know the meaning of
militant and I have never known that word. I have never even checked it in the
dictionary.
What will
you call those who have been agitating in the Niger Delta, including those in
your group?
Was
Mandela called a militant? Was Kwame Nkrumah called a militant? If they did not
call Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah and even Saro Wiwa a militant, why should I be
called a militant? I am not a militant and I don’t know the meaning of
militant.
Are you a
revolutionary?
Yes, I
am. Revolution means violent action towards change.
Now, the
amnesty programme has a time frame…
I don’t
know. The question is not for me because I took the government of the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua to court challenging him under the constitution of
Nigeria whether he had the power to grant amnesty…he did not have the power to.
I took him to the Federal High Court in 2009.
In spite
of that they are still running the programme. Why are you still making an issue
out of it?
That is
because Nigeria is a lawless country. The whims and caprices of individuals
cannot now become law. Yar’Adua cannot be moving on the street of Abuja and
then see me and say: ‘I have granted you amnesty because you are from the Niger
Delta and you look like a militant.’
I thought
you were part of the deal
I am
shocked and it shows that you didn’t read my write up because if you did, you
would have known that I took them to court. You would have known that I refused
to be given pardon and I have not accepted pardon from anybody because I have
not committed any crime and I am not a militant.
Due to
oil theft, multinational companies are trying to disinvest in the Niger Delta.
Are you not concerned about this?
Very
good! They should leave, that is what we have been praying for. They should not
just disinvest onshore, they should also disinvest offshore.
Who will
manage our oil considering that they have the technical knowledge?
Who said
we want them to manage any oil? Nobody said so. We don’t want our oil to be
used, our environment to be degraded, our people to suffer from all sorts of
diseases occasioned by oil production and exploitation. If they stop, good for
us.
How will
Nigeria manage its oil sector or take over?
What is
my business? Why would Nigeria come and take over what is in Buguma, did I go
to take over what is in Kano? Why should Buguma matter be different from Kano
or Sokoto? Why would the governor of Adamawa talk about Buguma when I don’t
have anything to do in Yola?
These are
natural resources that belong to the people of Buguma, how would you exploit
them?
Buguma
people are not ready to exploit it now. When they are ready, we will, but for
now we don’t want anything. If they are going, we will applaud them. There is
no reason whatsoever for you to exploit my resources to come and develop Abuja.
I support convocation of Sovereign National Conference which is the simple
minimum demand we are making.
What
about true federalism?
I don’t
know anything about that because in dictionary, I have never seen any word like
true federalism as illiterate as I am, but there is federalism. Nigerians
cannot be creating words to the exclusion of the whole world. We know what
federal system of government and unitary system of government are, there is
nothing like true federalism. You are a federation and even if you are, the
people must agree to be Nigerians and we have never sat down to agree. Nations
are not built by one Lugard or when someone says from today, you people are
Nigerians. That is what is wrong with Nigeria.
But the
argument of the government is that there can’t be two sovereignties?
We have
gone past that. The president said he is not averse to the convocation of a
Sovereign National Conference. The president of the Senate, David Mark, has
come out and said national conference is necessary. So, we are getting nearer.
Those of us who have been shouting on top of our voice are coming nearer and
closer. Sovereign National Conference, I pray, will be convened in my lifetime.
That is my ultimate dream. By that time, I will campaign among my people for
what we want and what we want is independence. After the independence we will
go our separate ways peacefully so that we will not be hearing about Boko Haram
or MEND which will be a Niger Delta problem and from there, it will become an
Ijaw problem. I cannot be carrying other people’s burden.
Does that
mean you don’t mind if the nation is dismembered?
I am the
first person who advocated it to the Supreme Court and that was why I was put
on treason trial. My belief, aspiration or prayer is that Nigeria should be
dismembered. This Nigeria, I don’t want it.
What is
really wrong with Nigeria having come such a long way?
We didn’t
come anywhere. Somebody cannot just say from today you are Nigerians. Why? What
power does he have? Is he God? And he says he’s an English man. Do you know
that anybody who calls himself a Nigerian is an inferior person? How can
someone just look at you and call you a Nigerian and so you are?
I thought
there is now equity in Nigeria since power has shifted to the South-South?
If power
has shifted to the South-South and one man or some people say if Jonathan wins
the PDP primaries by default or by any other means, he will fail at the general
election… and if he wins, they will make the country ungovernable and now they
have fulfilled their words of making the country ungovernable. Kano and Jigawa
states’ governors have clearly said if Goodluck gets PDP ticket, they are going
to disgrace him at the general election – which they cannot. So they have
continued in their drumming of crisis and war. They failed in 2011 and they are
going to fail in 2015. So, why would you want to be part of a country where
some people think they are born to rule?
But I
thought at a stage, you granted an interview and you had some grouses against
the president and his re-election bid?
You did
not read my interview, if you had read my interview, you won’t say so. I can
quote my words as printed by PUNCH Newspaper. If some people decide to say what
they like, that is their business. This is what I said and thank God, book no
dey lie. It was published in PUNCH on the 22nd of December 2012.
I said:
“First, there was no need for Jonathan, whatsoever, to disagree with Obasanjo.
I don’t like Obasanjo, I don’t like his face, I hate him, but he was
instrumental to bringing Jonathan to power. And the greedy people around
Jonathan have not managed him well enough to prevent an open clash between him
and Obasanjo. And if you check, all the people who supported Jonathan and
fought to bring him to power have openly disagreed with him, what were the
causes of these disagreements? These are the questions we want to put to the
president. It is alarming because the South-South must have its uninterrupted
eight years’ tenure which is constitutional, but with how things are going
under Jonathan, we are afraid that we may not be able to have our eight years,
because there will be no magic about it, if it is going to be one-man-one-vote.
“Some
people say Obasanjo is manipulating Jonathan, that is why Jonathan is
disagreeing with him, and we ask: ‘what has Jonathan’s government achieved to
show that it is a departure from other governments that have existed since
1956?’ For us, nothing has changed. It is still business as usual. So, what is
the advice that Obasanjo gave to Jonathan that is so difficult for him to
fulfill, that made him to decide to fall out with the former president?
Obasanjo was instrumental to and manipulated the process that illegally removed
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as the governor of Bayelsa State and installed Jonathan
as governor, then made him vice-president, fought for him to become acting
president and also fought for him to become President of Nigeria. Apart from
Obasanjo, there are so many people who supported Jonathan; some have been
pushed out by those who were not there to give him any support, while some
others are trapped and they cannot talk.
“The
problem is that the president is surrounded by very greedy people who do not
want him to make any progress. I have known the president for more than 20
years, and I know he is very simple and humane, but he has allowed himself to
be imprisoned by the people around him, and this is what we are saying that the
situation must stop. After the election and before his swearing-in, I granted
an interview where I said that if Jonathan failed to perform in six months, he
would lose all the goodwill, and today as we can see, the president is losing
all the goodwill.
The
social media was one of the avenues the president used to come to power, but
today, anywhere you go on the social media, he is being called all sorts of
names: clueless and other derogatory names. We cannot continue to take punches
for the president when he has refused to wear his gloves. The president is
removed from his own people, his people do not have access to him; so, people
like us who have access to him become targets. When Joseph was sold into
captivity in Egypt, from slavery to prison and from prison he became a prime
minister, the first thing he did was to invite his family from Israel to Egypt
to come and partake in his new-found glory.
“There is
something wrong somewhere, the people around the president have fenced him and
put him in ‘Kirikiri Prison’ so that he cannot even see his direct family. I
have complained to Ijaw elders, that I cannot keep quiet over things that I
have seen, and they say I should wait. I am asking here, how long will we keep
quiet? Our people now feel that we are at the riverside and yet use spittle to
wash our face. People are dying on the East-West Road, Jonathan and (Godsday)
Orubebe are doing nothing. Both of them will account for the deaths on the
road. I continue to be an advocate of an eight-year presidency in the
South-South and eight years in the South-East because the old Eastern Region
was the most deprived region in this country if you consider the people that
have ruled this country.” So, how was I against the president? People continue
to quote me wrongly and say I am against Jonathan.
Are you
still standing by some of these observations?
Yes! Go
to the East-West road now, something massive is going on and it is almost
completed. You can drive from Port Harcourt to Elele, from Warri to Ughelli,
work is also ongoing. So, if I said something in December last year and after I
said it, the Catholic Bishop said it also at the funeral of Azazi, Amaechi said
it and different socio-cultural organisations including the Council of Warlords
said it. They reechoed what I have said.
Does it
mean the president is responding?
Yes, he
is responding not only to the road but on a lot of vital issues.
On what
basis does Jonathan deserve a second term?
He
deserves a second term first. No apologies. He is an Ijaw man like me; he
deserves it and no apologies whatsoever. Second, which is most important to any
other person is: when the colonialist left, they left functional railways, but
before Goodluck came to power the railways were dead. When the colonialists
were leaving, they left functional agriculture but all of them died before
Goodluck came to power. Today, agriculture is being revived. During Obasanjo’s
eight years, you could not travel the Ore-Benin road; it was a death trap but
today the road is open and people are travelling. Go to Oyo-Ilorin road, it has
been expanded and people are travelling.
Obasanjo
awarded Abuja-Lokoja road at an unbelievable amount but construction did not go
beyond two to three kilometres. Yar’ Adua came and he did not do anything. But
now the road is near completion. Direct foreign investment has increased. So,
if, from 1956 to 2010, they were not able to achieve anything and somebody in a
space of three years has changed these things and has achieved so much, then if
you add all of them together, they have not achieved as much as what Jonathan
has achieved in three years.
That
means you are not disturbed by the activities of the G-7 PDP governors and the
Baraje faction?
They are
political miscreants because there is no faction in the PDP. PDP is the PDP and
there is only one PDP recognised by the law. What they are doing is illegal and
against the law.
But the
same president is holding peace talks with them
That is
why we are angry with Jonathan. Why should the president hold meeting with
them? The president should put them where they belong.
Where do
they belong?
Where
they belong is to be chased from the PDP and those of them that do not have
immunity, the full weight of the law should be brought against them and they
should be dealt with decisively.
But the
fear is that they can stop the president
How? Did
the president win in Kano, Sokoto, Niger, and Jigawa in 2011?
But he
won in Kwara?
Yes, and
he is going to win in Kwara, he will win in Niger now clearly and he will win
more votes in Kano. He will win. Did Kwankwaso people not print his poster with
Buhari in 2011? Did Kwankwaso support Goodluck? If it is Lamido, yes, we agree,
but did the support translate into victory? So all this bragging is nothing.
Did Amaechi bring any vote? I was the chieftain of ACN, all other parties
scored zero. Goodluck scored 100% vote in my ward. There were agents for all
the parties but in my ward, every party scored zero, they didn’t score one
vote. Did Amaechi bring it or did he come near my ward? Amaechi cannot even win
in his unit; he does not have the capacity to win election even in his unit.
We are
waiting and we pray to God to keep us alive till 2015, then you will come and
see if Amaechi can win in his unit in 2015 and not to talk of his ward. In the
last election, didn’t you hear what they did to a policeman in Amaechi’s town?
How police officers were stripped naked by the people of his community. He is
not able to control his community and he wants to rule Rivers State. Look at
people they are training in Kano for martial art, if I do it in my school they
will say I am training militia.
You seem
to have no fear about 2015, what is the secret?
I don’t
have any fear, except for what God will do and Goodluck will not be alive which
we pray that God will not at this time that he has brought us to a reasonable
level of development. Goodluck will not leave us mid-stream, he will take us to
the shore because 2015 is a foregone conclusion. There is going to be political
cemetery for many political heavy weights where we are going to inter them
because Goodluck is going to demystify everybody. People should not be afraid.
And for the men of God that said God sent them, people will know that God did
not send them.
How about
this coalition of opposition coming together to form All Progressives Congress,
you were once in their midst, what happened?
I was,
because we shared the same political belief, ideology and aspiration but if
somebody leaves that platform to join people who are conservative and you want
me to join them I cannot. I saw NPN as a young man before I joined UPN, and I
became the youth leader of UPN in Degema community. I saw PDP before I joined
AD, I saw PDP before I joined ACN. So, if you now merge the PDP elements with
yourself and you want me to join, why would I join? That is not the political
ideology I saw and joined.
Would
there really be war if Goodluck does not win in 2015?
Goodluck’s
winning is a foregone conclusion. He will never lose, Insha Allah. It is they
who said if he wins, they will make the polity ungovernable. So it is they who
will bring the war and we will reply them. For every action, there is an
opposite and equal reaction. They said the baboons and the dogs will be soaked
in the street. We will help them to soak the street with more blood. I have no
apology for that as I said on Channels TV. As you prepare for war, you think
say me I go sleep? No, me too dey prepare. Allah said in the Quran, ‘they
plotted and we too are plotting, we are the best of plotters.’ So, if you plot
to soak the blood of the dogs and baboons, should we fold our hands and expect
them to come and kill us? No, it is not possible.
Ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo has been trying to assist the president by convening peace
talks to meet with feuding members of the PDP, but some people are saying…
Don’t say
some people; I was the first person who came out to say that Obasanjo is the
agent provocateur. I was the first person who said Obasanjo is the instigator.
Atiku has also come out to say Obasanjo is the one; Atiku who is a
co-conspirator. Obasanjo is an insatiable man.
How?
Let me
tell you a secret, when Yar’Adua was there, I met with his then Chief Economic
Adviser, Tanimu Yakubu. Please, write it the way I said it. He (Tanimu) came to
meet me in my hotel room and said, the place Obasanjo put you, you will go back
there. Tanimu is alive, if he fears God, he will not deny it. If Yar’Adua had
continued, Obasanjo would have been in jail and he knows that. So whatever
thing Obasanjo and Goodluck are doing together (like the friction), I don’t know.
But I know that Obasanjo has not been fair to Goodluck. I have known Goodluck
for over twenty years; I don’t know what Obasanjo tells Goodluck because
Goodluck has not told me. When I said Goodluck had no business quarrelling with
Obasanjo, one Yoruba retired military officer called me on phone and spoke with
me for more than one hour. He said Obasanjo is a fox. He said he has known
Obasanjo for as long as his adult life and he knows that Goodluck has not done
anything against Obasanjo. He said Obasanjo’s life is about constant plotting
and betrayal; that is what the general told me.
When you
came from the creek and met Obasanjo at the Villa, what was your impression of
him?
Was it
not after I met with him and gave out about 3200 firearms and over 300
ammunition and bombs that he invited me to the police station and arrested me
and threw me into prison? Is that a man to be trusted? He did not honour his
own part of the agreement, he cannot honour because he believes in brute force
and anyone who is dealing with him should also deal with him that way. Obasanjo
has no business being free and moving freely for all that he stole. For the
destruction of Odioma, Zaki Biam, he has no business walking free. I have been
in court over Zaki Biam and Odioma. Our court system or judiciary is so bad and
corrupt that any case they don’t want, they don’t listen to it.
How
should the president manage Obasanjo?
I don’t
know how he should manage Obasanjo but I believe that the president ought to
take Obasanjo for what he is and subject him to the scrutiny of the law.
But will
that be fair to President Jonathan’s predecessor and mentor?
If a
mentor has turned an enemy, what would you do? You will allow him to continue
to breed crisis that occasions loss of lives and properties?
What is
your opinion about the spate of violence in the north and even the recent
incident in Kenya? How can we curtail terrorism in this country?
It is a
global problem. It is a clash of civilisation; Islamic civilisation and the
Jewish-Western civilisation controlled by the Jewish Masonic order. Islam is
the only other ideology that has refused to succumb to the Jewish Masonic order
and for that, Muslims are being oppressed all over the world. America invades Muslim
countries, they kill Muslims at will, promoting Jewish Masonic order, promoting
Zionism. Strangers were brought from Europe and put on Arab land, they
confiscated a cage and put Arab in an open prison and concentration camp.
Arabs
were not Hitler. If Hitler put Jews in concentration camp, is that why Arabs
have to be put in concentration camp in Gaza where they cannot go out? Today in
Libya, there is no peace and development, they destroyed Libya. In Egypt now,
election was won by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Freedom Party, but
they overthrew the government and killed thousands of people. America is
talking about killing of people with gas but somebody came out openly to shoot
people in the full glare of international television and nothing is done about
it. They unleashed on Syria their dogs and thugs to perpetually keep the Muslim
land unstable. Let America mind their business and the world will have peace.
Is
terrorism the solution considering the fact that Islam is a religion of peace?
If they
attack you, will you not attack back? Islam does not support a person to go to
a shopping mall to go and kill people. That is cowardice. You cannot kill
unarmed people but we should also know that when somebody is frustrated, he can
do anything.
Back
home, how do we resolve the issue?
Nigerian
matters or crises? The people that should be arrested and brought in for
questioning are the Kaitas and the Ciromas. They should be arrested because
they are the people who promised mayhem in 2011 and the mayhem is taking place
in their home. “He who rides on the back of a tiger, e go easy to end up for
tiger belle.”
Does that
mean there is political undertone in all these crises in the north?
Yes, they
thought that they could control these elements; they didn’t know that there are
some people you cannot control. They want to use them to exact confusion…that
is what these political miscreants led by the so-called seven governors are
doing. They want the president to say he will not contest for second term. It
is the same Boko Haram demand which Dr. Ahmed Gumi said, once the president
says he is not contesting, Boko Haram insurgency will end. So there is a
connection with what the seven governors are demanding and Boko Haram. There is
a connection because they encourage them.
But the
president is trying to reach out to them but they are not embracing it?
That is
what we are saying, the president is wrong. He should leave them alone, let
them do their worst. Where they go pass impeach Jonathan now? There are certain
things they cannot imagine not to talk of doing. The president should not
bother himself about them. How many times did they try to impeach Obasanjo?
Mark my word, Goodluck Jonathan will win. If he won with 6 million votes
before, he will win now with 10 million.
What do
you make of the political tension in the country?
Don’t
allow a man who you think is a weak man to wake up; don’t force him to wake up.
When a man is sleeping, don’t force him to wake up. When someone is sleeping
and you keep tapping him, when he wakes up, he will become wild. Don’t wake a
sleeping man because the claws of government, when he digs it inside their
flesh, it will rip off their flesh. When you force a man to do what he does not
want to do… In Nigeria, you can only compare Goodluck with ex-President Shehu
Shagari. These people are easy going people and when you continue to criticise
him, you are giving chance to those of us who are extra-extremist to be telling
the president to behave like a president and then his name will change from
‘clueless’ which they have started and they have changed to ‘bully’ and from
‘bully’, he will be called ‘dictator.’
That is
what will happen. As for governors Adams Oshiomole and Rotimi Amaechi they have
calculated well; they are thinking of post-2015 politics. If Goodluck is
president till 2019, Amaechi will be out of power from 2015 to 2019. Even if he
goes to the Senate, he will not be anything but an ordinary floor member. But
if Goodluck goes, he will either become the Vice President or the Senate
President. All he (Amaechi) is thinking about is manipulation. For Oshiomole,
he is from the South-South and he is in the political cooler because there will
be no election in the next three years and maybe by then, he will lose
political relevance and he does not want that to happen. It is not like the
United States of America where if you are a democrat, you are a democrat. So
they have calculated and it is their personal greed they are pursuing.
Where did
you get this inspiration to be a revolutionary?
I grew up
under my grandmother and my grandmother was the transition between the glorious
past of our people. That was when our people were free. My grandmother was born
on the 22nd of November 1900. Her grandfather was King Amakiri. He died and was
buried on the 15th of November 1900. My grandmother lived in a world where she
saw and owned slaves, she had people serving her but all that came to an end
with the coming of Nigeria. When my mother had me unlike my other siblings, I
was taken to my grandmother and she taught me the lessons that I still carry
with me. She said, “Do everything to restore the glory of the past.”
Was she
the one who sent you to school?
I
attended primary one to four before my father came back from law school, but as
at that time I had been given enough education by my grandmother and then I
became close to radical political ideology from Iran and Libya. I visited the late
Muammar Ghadaffi in Libya several times because he was my political mentor and
he was one of the greatest men God has created on earth. He was the greatest
lover of Africa. I have never met anybody who loves Africa as much as Ghadaffi.
I got to
know about this through my interaction with him. When you speak with someone,
you will know his passion. I used to talk to him into the wee hours of the
night and he hardly spoke English with anybody but I forced him to speak
English with me. He understood English very well but he brought someone to
translate and I persuaded him to speak with me in English. Ghadaffi used to see
me as one of the hopes of Africa and he had connection and interaction with
Nelson Mandela and all the genuine freedom fighters in Africa. My interaction
with these people who love freedom has really influenced my life.
Were you
born into Islam?
I became
a Muslim on the 17th of September 1988 at Calabar. I was influenced by the
Iranian Revolution and it was the greatest influence because I have always
detested America. I have always detested the bullying and the double standard
of America. So when the Iranian Revolution started, I started reading about
Islam and I later became a Muslim.
Is your
being a revolutionary for personal gain because people say ex-militants are now
moneybags?
I don’t
know what ex-militants are, so when you are talking with me, you should know
the word to use. I am 50 years old and I come from a background of kings who
ruled their country until 1899 when Britain cajoled them to sign their
protectorates to become Nigeria. So if I had come from United Arab Emirate,
Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and I am a prince, what will I be called? Are you
saying that I should not fight to restore that sovereignty? I am an Amakri, I
don’t know where I get money from. So the Otedolas, the Adenugas, the Dangotes
are entitled to have wealth from the resources from my place but I don’t have
the right to make money.
The very
purpose of my struggle is to free my people and restore the totality of what
belongs to us. We want our sovereignty and wealth, so those who are from
poverty stricken places, those who ordinarily would have been slaves should
keep on wallowing in their poverty and slavery. There is no reason for Mike
Adenuga to have money while the son of Saro-Wiwa does not have. It is immoral
and unjust.
They sign
pieces of paper and give them oil blocks just like that to go and take
resources from another man’s backyard because it is Nigeria. Some of them have
never been to the places where they have these oil blocks and their accounts
are fatter daily to the shock and sweat of other people.
Are you
saying there is nothing wrong with ex-militants getting pipeline or maritime
protection contracts?
Who
should be given the contract? If Tompolo is not given contract, who should be
given? If they are giving any Niger Delta contract, who is more qualified to
have it?
Is it not
the job of the NNPC?
Is it not
the job of NNPC to explore oil, why should Dangote and Otedola be given oil
blocks? Is it not the job of NNPC to explore oil? Tompolo is a citizen of
Nigeria and is expected to have equal access to wealth that is exploited from
his back yard. The pipeline contract that I was given has been terminated since
July 2012. Am I dead now? I am alive and I am still going to be alive. They
don’t understand me, if they do, they won’t say what they are saying. Obasanjo
gave me endless opportunities to become so many things and I rejected them.
People
have become rich overnight because of this amnesty and if I was after money, I
would have embraced it. Is the north not demanding for amnesty to collect free
money? How many can do what I did? When you accept pardon, it shows that you
committed a crime. Who was more popular than myself in the Niger Delta? If they
are claiming amnesty, I should be the first to claim it. The day Tompolo came
to handover, Yar’Adua said one person is still remaining, but I refused because
I am not a militant. So, money is not the issue because I was born to be rich.
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