ETHNIC crisis is looming in the country as leader of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force (NDVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, yesterday directed his kinsmen, the Ijaw, to retaliate if any Yoruba attack them. He also threatened that thousands of Yourba souls "will go" if the Ijaw are attacked.
The directive is coming on the heels of reactions trailing Dokubo-Asari’s reported remarks that the late Yoruba sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was a devil.
Dokubo-Asari who spoke with Daily Champion on the reported ban placed on him by the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Yorubaland on account of the pronouncement, vowed that he would not apologise to anybody over his remarks, insisting that "Awolowo was a devil."
This is coming barely 24 hours after an "Awoist" and former Aviation Minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, dismissed the NDPVF leader as a senseless and misinformed youth leader for daring to call the late elder statesman a devil.
Dokubo-Asari stirred the hornest’s nest at the weekend when he described the late Chief Awolowo as a devil. Since then there has been series of comments condemning the remark, especially from OPC which banned him from any part of Yorubaland.
But reacting to this yesterday, Dokubo-Asari, threatened that if the Yoruba do anything to him, they will live to regret it.
Asserting that he does not shy away from battles and has no regret for what he had said, he disclosed that he had already directed the Ijaw to be at alert and ready to defend themselves in case of any attack by the Yoruba.
"If there is any need for me to be in any part of Yorubaland based on invitation and assurance of safety, I will honour the invitation.
"Nobody or race has monopoly of violence and if any Ijaw man is molested, the next available Yorubaman would be attacked," he threatened.
He said the Yoruba should instead apologise to the Niger Delta people for the Federal Government’s policies the late premier of the defunct Western Region influenced, against the interest of the Niger Delta.
"Awolowo was a devil and his policies led to the present problems that the people of Niger Delta are fighting against," Dokubo-Asari insisted.
He warned the Yoruba to desist from intimidation of harassment of any Ijaw person because "if anything happens to him, thousands (of Yourba) will go."
Declaring that he would not offer any apology for his remarks on the late Awolowo he disclosed that the leader of OPC, Gani Adams, had called him and said he did not issue the ban on Dokubo-Asari.
He added that he has been in touch with Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, a Yoruba, and Chief Anthony Enahoro, who, he said, told him that they have been in touch with Adams and Dr Frederick Fasheun, the two OPC joint leaders, who said none of them accepted responsibility for the purported ban.
The militia group leader, however reminded the Yoruba that thousands of their own people are scattered all over the Niger Delta region and they are only safe as long as the Ijaw in Yorubaland are also safe.
Dokubo-Asari noted that nobody can stop the Niger Delta from its agitation and if the Pro-National Conference Organisation (PRONACO) fails to find solution to the problem of the region, the people know how to solve their problems.
It would be recalled that Chief Babatunde a die-hard ‘Awoist,’ had said that Dokubo-Asari must have been misinformed by those he referred to as apostles of falsehood for him (Asari) to have made such remarks on the late elder statesman.
Going down memory lane, to fault Dokubo-Asari, Chief Babatope cited instances when the minorities in the country regarded the late Chief Awolowo as their messiah.
"When I read the story of Dokubo’s comment, I was very sad because the young man must have been schooled by apostles of falsehood and those who, over the years in Rivers State, identified themselves with the conservative politics in Nigeria. And I know he got his facts wrong.
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Ochiwar, Awo messiah to Yorubas, but devil to the rest of nigerians. Yorubas could have been better of with Awo as their president in their own country. Don't forget Awo is the architect of ethinic hatered in nigeria.
Posts: 524 | From: USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Now that his Ijaw neighbors have seen the light, where is that alcoholic ete man named Clement Ikpatt who blames the Igbo for everything that has gone in his life?
quote:"If there is any need for me to be in any part of Yorubaland based on invitation and assurance of safety, I will honour the invitation.
"Nobody or race has monopoly of violence and if any Ijaw man is molested, the next available Yorubaman would be attacked," he threatened.
He said the Yoruba should instead apologise to the Niger Delta people for the Federal Government’s policies the late premier of the defunct Western Region influenced, against the interest of the Niger Delta.
"Awolowo was a devil and his policies led to the present problems that the people of Niger Delta are fighting against," Dokubo-Asari insisted.
He warned the Yoruba to desist from intimidation of harassment of any Ijaw person because "if anything happens to him, thousands (of Yourba) will go."
Clement Ikpatt:
Rise up and defend the honor of your people.
Posts: 365 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Awo's the devil that destroyed Nigeria in its totality. A hardcore tribalist who disliked his neigbors. I hate him.
___________________ "When God Left the schools, the schools went to hell!"-----Justice Clarence Thomas Posts: 31 | From: Limbo | Registered: Oct 2003
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So this Reuben Abati is nothing but an Awolowo apologist? In his article on this issue he describes awolowo as
quote: the God-essence in human form, a messianic figure who had been sent to defend and protect the Yoruba in a tough and dangerous place called Nigeria
and seeks to proove this by recounting some embarassing anectodes about Awolowo performing some cheap trick of mass hypnosis during the second republic. Why does Reuben attack Dokubo-asari`s freedom to thought and speech and he justifies the murder of Dokubo-asari as appropriate punishement for his statement against Awo? Is this junk journalism or premeditated fanning of the embers of ethnic hatred? Hear from Reuben; Awo and Asari Dokubo By Reuben Abati
THE other day, Asari Dokubo, an Ijaw freedom-fighter, went on television, in Lagos, in Yoruba territory, and abused the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He had been invited for an interview by the Lagos Television, LTV 8, a station that was established under the aegis of an Awolowo government led by Alhaji Lateef Jakande in the Second Republic. In the course of the interview, Dokubo started saying something about Awo being a devil.
Dokubo was doing something rather reckless: he was using a Yoruba platform in Yoruba territory, to condemn a Yoruba icon. The interviewer tried to steer him away from this line of talk, but Asari Dokubo refused. Here is a man who forced himself into public reckoning out of nowhere, and earned a reputation for raw gangsterism and bravura in 2004 when he took on the entire Obasanjo government and the multinationals and threatened to blow up all oil installations in the Niger Delta. The Federal Government had to call him to a meeting in Abuja. They gave him royal treatment and begged him. And he became a hero of sorts.
In Lagos however, he was looking for trouble. When he stepped out of the studio, he was confronted by a Yoruba "nationalist", and something of a scuffle ensued. Before long, a detachment of the militant wing of Yoruba politics, the Oodua Peoples Congress arrived at LTV 8 to teach Dokubo a lesson for denigrating Awo's memory. But either luckily or unluckily, Dokubo had left the LTV premises before the OPC arrived. He apparently realised that he had stirred the hornet's nest, so he reportedly went straight to the airport and out of Yoruba territory. Since then, the OPC leader, Gani Adams has demanded an apology. Dokubo has also been banned from Yorubaland until further notice. But he is insisting that he does not owe anybody any apology. "I'm battle ready", he says, adding that if he is attacked, thousands of Yoruba souls "will go". In an interview with The Champion, he even repeated the offence: "Awolowo was a devil and his policies led to the present problems that the people of the Niger Delta are fighting against." Dokubo is mistaken.
There are so many people alive today, sleeping and waking up and performing all the rituals of living, but whose total existence amounts to nothing. They are no better than mere footnotes to the grand events of existence; they are an embarrassment even unto themselves, were they to die, no one will take note of their passing. Their graves will carry no flowers, no significance, no piece of useful history. And yet there are some people who though dead refuse to die. They continue to live on in the people's minds and lives with such force that seems physical and real, and always their significance is continually remarked upon; they rule as it were from the grave, as the people for whom they have become heroes, icons and legends refuse to allow them to die. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Yoruba, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, politician, thinker and statesman was one of those.
My most striking memory of him was during the election campaigns in the Second Republic. On this particular day, word had gone around that Awo was going to appear in the moon at a particular time in the evening. The information was passed by word of mouth from one part of the town to the other. Abeokuta was and still is a small, close-knit community where information travels faster through "the bush radio" than official channels. Before you knew it, the whole town was in a state of great preparation.
We were told that all you needed to do was to wear a pair of sunshades, or if you did not have one, then just place a bowl of water outside, under the gaze of the moon, but do not look towards the moon, instead look into the water, and there you would see Awo. Nobody asked any questions about the wisdom of using sunshades at night to gaze at the moon, or the chemistry of water as a reflector of images, or even the possibility of anyone appearing in the moon. By the time dusk arrived, people were beginning to go from street to street shouting "up Awo, up Nigeria".
By 1979, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had become well-established in the people's psyche, particularly among his kinsmen, the Yoruba as a man of uncommon ability, a legend and an icon. There were so many myths about him, some people even thought that he was the God-essence in human form, a messianic figure who had been sent to defend and protect the Yoruba in a tough and dangerous place called Nigeria. And so it was that for the majority of Yoruba, Awo could do no wrong. The only thing that was possible was for his critics and enemies to envy him. Even before the elections in 1979, the Yoruba electorate were already behaving as if they had been hypnotized.
Eventually, the moon stood out in the sky. As predicted, it was a full moon. The madness in the neighbourhood was the equivalent of a special moment of rapture. People trooped out of their homes, carrying bowls of water, and gazing skywards. One old woman started a song about Awo, and all the older people picked it up, passing the stanzas from mouth to mouth. And somewhere in between someone would shout "up, Awo-o-oh-o....up Non-ji-ria". That day, it was reported that Awo had appeared in the moon in Ibadan, Ijebu Ode, Akure and Ilesa. It was now the turn of Abeokuta. And apparently, the Abeokuta people did not want to be left out. I joined the skygazers with my own small bowl of water. I looked and checked, I didn't see any human form in the water. It was dark anyway so there was no way anybody could have seen anything, not even the people wearing sunshades.
But along the line, someone announced that he had seen Awo, and that the man was waving at us and smiling, and toasting his admirers with his famous victory sign. The moment this announcement was made, all other persons started saying that they too had seen Awo in the moon, and that definitely, his party, the Unity Party of Nigeria must win the 1979 Presidential elections. Although I was not convinced that the man had appeared in the moon, I did not have the courage to voice a different opinion. When someone shouted "up Awo" close to me, I had no option but to say "up Nigeria". In that kind of situation, it was better to keep quiet or become part of the crowd. Even my father, who had not gone outside to participate in the mass hypnotism, was convinced that Awo was capable of anything.
He had insisted that in the First Republic, Awo used to appear in the sky. While other political parties campaigned on the ground, Awo took the battle to the skies, to show the people the determination of the Action Group and its coalition-offspring, UPGA. Although Awo did not become Prime Minister of Nigeria, the Yoruba were pleased with his performance as Premier of the Western Region. He gave the people free education, tarred their roads, equipped the hospitals, created job opportunities, and formulated a grand ideology of communal greatness.
In Yorubaland of the time, there were persons who were better educated than Awo, but he was the one the people regarded as the wisest man of his age. There were better orators, in fact he was not an orator at all, but his words sounded like pleasant music in the ears of the people. If any orator showed up, he got an audience only for as long as he parroted Awo's ideas and attributed even his own ideas to Awo. Naturally, Awo attracted so much envy, and there were all kinds of objections to his person and politics. But he had the people behind him. If any traditional ruler disrespected him, he was promptly removed from the throne and banished. Families refused to marry the daughters and sons of anyone who opposed Awo. Those who belonged to opposition parties or who made the mistake of criticizing Awo in public had their houses burnt, their vehicles destroyed, and their names dragged in the mud.
Awo died in 1987. He has been ruling Yorubaland since then from his grave. Till date, the easiest way to gain relevance in Yoruba politics is to invoke Awo's name. In 1999, the Alliance for Democracy won the election in the South-West simply by using the name of Awolowo. They lost in 2003 because they were beginning to behave as if they had found new masters, and the people were beginning to suspect that Awo's name had been taken in vain for opportunistic reasons. There were other reasons of course, but this was the strongest reason, and it was in part why the Yoruba who can be unreasonably violent when they choose to be, refused to burn down houses in 2003. Every year, Awo's birthday is celebrated with great ceremony. Living persons do not receive as much attention.
Almost on a daily basis, politicians who are seeking recognition troop to Awo's home in Ikenne, Ogun state, to pay homage at his grave, and pay obeisance to his wife. They also ensure that this is well-reported by the media afterwards. No other politician has been able to capture the people's imagination and mind with a similar force. There is even a younger generation of Yoruba who were born after Awo had died, and they too have learnt about Awo from their parents who heard part of the man's legend from their own fathers before them. From all indications, Awo is not going to die very soon as a symbol of Yoruba politics and aspirations. Thus, the protection of Awo's legacy has become a sacred Yoruba pre-occupation as if the destiny and prestige of the race is tied to this special task.
Now, this is the kind of man whom Asari Dokubo has chosen to abuse. Awo has been called worse names in the past by his critics. But when an Asari Dokubo who claims to be fighting the Ijaw cause makes very provocative and inciting statements with an ethnic colouration, he is likely to inflame passions. The assumption is that he is speaking for all Ijaw, whereas the average Ijaw man does not even think that Dokubo is anything more than an irritant. But imagine what could have happened if he had been confronted by the OPC team that went to look for him at LTV 8. He could have been assaulted or he could have been killed. And then, this would have caused serious problems between the Ijaw and the Yoruba. There would have been arguments about Dokubo's right of free speech and the intolerance of the OPC. The resultant ethnic tension could result in more killings, and battles from Lagos to the Delta creeks. And it would have been a thoroughly pointless exchange of hostilities. What is Asari Dokubo trying to achieve? Picking up a fight with the Yoruba and the OPC does not in any way advance the Ijaw cause. Abusing the dead for the problems of the living serves little purpose; it is cowardly and crude. As Dokubo tries to learn the complexities of Nigerian politics, and seeks to make the transition from gun-slinging to power-games, he should realise, for his own good, that certain things are better left unsaid. May be the OPC is just being needlessly silly by trying to intimidate a man for no reason other than that he expressed an opinion, but the Nigerian government has a duty to call Asari Dokubo to order. Awo's place in history is secure; that of Dokubo remains unknown.
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