MEND: Asari-Dokubo dismisses planned attack
April 16, 2013
…says amnesty is fraud, mistake by govt
•Northern youths warn group against threat
Leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, NDVF, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo, yesterday dismissed the threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, to attack mosques and other Islamic institutions in the country.
He also warned those behind the threat not to throw the nation into religious crisis even as he described the amnesty by the Federal Government to militants in the Niger Delta as an error of judgement and a fraud.
The Arewa Youth Forum, AYF, also yesterday warned MEND not to carry out its threat.
Asari-Dokubo said that the amnesty being planned by the government for Boko Haram members “is nothing but a fundamental progress in error” even as he condemned the group’s attack on places of worship “to ventilate whatever grievances they might have.”
Speaking, yesterday, with State House correspondents, Asari-Dokubo described MEND as faceless existing only in the imagination of people.
He said: “I am a Muslim and I do not subscribe to attacking religious centres of worship. I do not believe that MEND exists. I have always said that there is nothing like MEND. MEND is just the figment of the imagination of people, it’s on the Internet, newspapers, but who is MEND?
Nobody can really tell you. “MEND was formed only for name; for the purpose of my release and the release of Alamieyeseigha when we were in detention.
MEND leaders are not known anywhere like other organisations like the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, the Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, and so on. “MEND actually is faceless because Henry Okah himself had denied that he was the leader of MEND in court under oath.”
Asari-Dokubo said that although he had grievances with the government, he would not support attacks on mosques and other places of worship, stressing that there was no religious war in the country and that nobody should throw Nigeria into religious crisis.
“For instance, in Yorubaland, how are you going to fight? In some families, the mother is a Christian and the father is a Muslim, the children are divided; there are pastors, there are missioners of Islamic organisations.
“Even in my family, I am the only Muslim and my 18 children are also Muslims; so how are we going to fight and kill each other?” The NDVF leader noted that the attack on policemen in Bayelsa State was not carried out by MEND but by some people who were angry over the disbursement of some funds as part of the amnesty arrangement.
“The unfortunate incident that happened in the Bayelsa, if you dig deep into it, many people were paid money through this amnesty and instead of paying their followers, they pocketed much of the money for themselves and these followers were angry that the N65,000 stipend that was supposed to go to them did not get to them,” he said.
While speaking on amnesty for the Boko Haram sect, Asari-Dokubo stated that amnesty was a fraud, stressing that the Federal Government made a mistake in the first place by granting amnesty to Niger Delta militants.
Asari-Dokubo said: “I have always said that it is a mistake granting amnesty to people. First, amnesty is a fraud, it is not known to Nigerian law.
The government can only put in two things: exercise prerogative of mercy after a person has been convicted or when a person is under trial to enter a nolle prosequi, but you cannot see somebody and declare him a criminal and give him pardon. It is very wrong.
It is a mistake we made the first time and if you have made a mistake once, you continue to make it. “If they give amnesty to the Salafi Movement, I don’t know them as Boko Haram, other people will come and maybe I will form a group and ask for amnesty and they will give me, so the vicious cycle will continue.
“I cannot in one breath see that some other people are sitting at home and receiving N65,000 and say that others should not, I cannot say that. It will be inconsistent with what I stand for. As far as I am concerned, the amnesty proposed to Boko Haram or any organisation, as far as it has been given to one set of people, it should be given to all.”
Asari-Dokubo described the rejection of amnesty by the Boko Haram as a war the sect can not win, saying that they would just be killing and causing dislocation in the system. He said: “The prophet said he who commits suicide is going to end up in hell fire and he who commits suicide is not part of us.
“There are conditions for Jihad and we are not afraid. Jihad is compulsory on every Muslim. We are not ashamed and we are not apologetic about it.” Meanwhile, the Arewa Youth Forum, AYF, yesterday warned MEND over the implications of its threat for peace and national stability.
The National Director of Public Affairs, Alhaji Bello Abdulhameed, in a statement alleged that MEND’s plot was to frustrate the Jonathan’s administration. AYF said northern youths would unite to truncate MEND’s threats.
The group added that with the colossal amount being paid to Niger Delta ex-militants and training abroad, MEND should support the present government to address the nation’s problems.
Also, The Muslim Congress, TMC, has called on the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the Boko Haram menace before it degenerates into a fullblown war. This followed the threat by MEND to attack Islamic gatherings.
TMC also described as inhuman the various attacks by Boko Haram.
The Amir, Luqman AbdurRaheem, urged MEND not to embark on reprisals and condemned the bombings and wanton killing by the sect. He said that Boko Haram’s bombings “are condemnable and totally antithetical to the principles of peace, tolerance and decorum preached by Islam and exemplified by Prophet Muhammed.
Also, the Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jamat urged security agencies not to treat this threat with kid gloves while appealing to all men of good conscience to come together and appeal for calm.
The Secretary General of Jama’tu Nasril Islam, JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, also appealed for calm and promised to join hands with the Christian leaders in the country to fight the menace of Boko Haram sect in order to put an end to the insecurity pervading the nation while calling on MEND to join forces with other Nigerians in putting an end to the activities of Boko Haram in a peaceful manner as religious warfare may not be in the best interest of the corporate existence of the nation.
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