Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.)
A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen.
Theophilus Danjuma (retd.), has called for the arrest of an ex-Niger
Delta militants, including Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari and Government
Ekpudomenowei(akaTompolo) for threatening to declare war against the
nation if President Goodluck loses the February 14 election.
Danjuma, who described the threat as
“unguarded and reckless,” warned that “miscreants” must not be allowed
to hold the country by the jugular.
Dokubo-Asari, had at a meeting on Friday
at the Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, urged an end to what he
termed, the intimidation of the Ijaw by other Nigerians.
“For
every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharaoh, there is a
Moses. We are going to war. Every one of you should go and fortify
yourself,” he said.
At the meeting were Governor Seriake
Dickson, Ekpudomenowei, Victor Ebikabowei (aka Boy Loaf), the Special
Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku and the
President General, the Ijaw Youth Council, Udengs Eradiri.
Boyloaf also said at the meeting that if
the North succeeded in regaining power on February 14, the people of
the Niger Delta would take their oil back.
However, Danjuma while inaugurating the
Kwankwasiyya City alongside Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, on
Wednesday wondered why Dokubo-Asari and Ebikabowei were heating up the
polity.
He reminded them that since Nigeria and its resources belonged to everyone, no one must hold the government to ransom.
The former Defence minister, therefore, urged the necessary government agencies to immediately arrest the ex-militants.
“You should arrest Asari Dokubo,
Tompolo, Boyloaf and other Niger Delta militants for making reckless
statements, which in any way does not mean keeping Nigeria as one
entity. They create a war situation.
“Those were reckless statements coming
from irresponsible individuals; they should be condemned and arrested
immediately,” he said.
In a situation like this, the issue of
entrenching peace in the country is what is needed most. We should not
allow some miscreants to hold us to ransom,” he said.
Danjuma, who served as a Defence
minister during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, added, “Nigeria
belongs to everybody and we must do everything possible to safeguard her
unity.”
He also asked politicians to stop making utterances capable of overheating the polity.
The former minister said, “As we are
approaching election time, we must strive to ensure that important
issues are thoroughly discussed but not personalities. We want to have a
perfect election where no one would have an axe to grind with anybody.
“Once politicians base their campaigns
on issues not personalities and avoid anything capable of causing
disaffection, I am confident that we would have foul-free elections.”
He commended Kwankwaso for providing
physical infrastructure in the last four years and described the
Kwankwasiyya City as one of the modern edifices in the current
democratic dispensation.
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