Founder of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Asari Dokubo has warned that no amount of threat would stop President Goodluck Jonathan from running for a second term.
The ex-militant said this at a program organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC in Port Harcourt, saying Boko Haram’s killings were part of sponsored scheme to stop President Jonathan from going for a second term.
“They have started o! The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau said in a video that we should not play with them. He said, Goodluck, I am coming for you. Niger Delta, we are coming for you.
“Are we going to allow them to shoot the guns and throw the bombs? That is when we will dance?”
“2015 is more than do or die. It is our very survival that is being challenged, and we must tell them.
“You are a man and I am a man, we are going to meet at the battlefield. Be prepared, be watchful. The enemies should not be allowed,” Dokubo said.
He also added that the NDDC had come to stay and no government can scrap it.
“In this region, there will be only one vote. The people from the North have said that they should scrap the NDDC, that they should reduce the 13 per cent derivation to five per cent, and that nobody owns oil. We have to gather again and tell them (North) that they cannot dare it.
“The North cannot scrap the NDDC. The North cannot reduce the 13 per cent derivation to five per cent. If they try it now, they will see. It is because our brother is the president that is why we are hanging on peacefully”.
He further charged political office holders in the region to create empowerment programmes for youths, as one of the ways to reduce poverty in the region.
“If we beg to pay our rents and our children’s school fees, then what is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life if I stand at the gate of NDDC and beg anybody that comes in and goes out with money? Why would we allow our people to become beggars in the midst of plenty?”
“Whether you do the right thing or not, we will fight until victory comes. You (the managing director of NDDC) never sent us. Nobody sent us. When we decided to fight, we did not know you. You never sponsored us. We fought because we believe that suffering will end. But if you, the beneficiaries of our blood, sweat and pains, will treat us as small children, then, what have we gained in this struggle?
“Let us make it very clear that if we did not fight, Goodluck Jonathan would not have been president of this country. It is because we fought that he became president. It is insulting to give us water hyacinth contract. I have the capacity to construct the road to Bonny. Today, vehicles have started going to Nembe, and that is a miracle,” said Dokubo.
Also speaking at the event , Managing director of the NDDC, Bassey Dan-Abia, said the new management of the NDDC was working to tackle challenges of poverty in the region.
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