Asari Dokubo - insurgent or self-serving opportunist
January 08, 2005
Dokubo and the
December Amnesty
The dominant image of Asari Dokubo, the Niger delta insurgent leader, that is
gradually emerging in the media in Europe and the United States is of a frivolous and self-serving young man. It is mentioned, suggestively, that he drives a luxury four-wheel drive, that he has retainers at his beck and call, and that his home in Port Harcourt is a palatial mansion.
Then, more lethally, it is hinted that he comes from a family of former delta
slave traders, that he is a Muslim, and that he has ‘traveled widely in the Middle East where Islamic fundamentalists are fighting Americans.’ It is not boldly stated, but what is going on here is an attempt to discredit Asari Dokubo by painting him as frivolous and grasping, and by so doing, draw attention away from his fundamental message: that his people, the Ijo of the Niger Delta, are dying.
The dominant image of Asari Dokubo, the Niger delta insurgent leader, that is
gradually emerging in the media in Europe and the United States is of a frivolous and self-serving young man. It is mentioned, suggestively, that he drives a luxury four-wheel drive, that he has retainers at his beck and call, and that his home in Port Harcourt is a palatial mansion.
Then, more lethally, it is hinted that he comes from a family of former delta
slave traders, that he is a Muslim, and that he has ‘traveled widely in the Middle East where Islamic fundamentalists are fighting Americans.’ It is not boldly stated, but what is going on here is an attempt to discredit Asari Dokubo by painting him as frivolous and grasping, and by so doing, draw attention away from his fundamental message: that his people, the Ijo of the Niger Delta, are dying.
First I should
say that I disagree with Asari Dokubo’s method.
Resorting to political violence as a strategy with which
to resolve the burgeoning crisis in the Niger delta only
serves to increase the blood-letting, not eliminate it.
I have also argued that when violence is introduced into
a community, the primary victims are always the poor and
the vulnerable- and they are invariably women and
children. It is for this reason that I shall continue to
oppose Dokubo’s resort to guns in his bid to secure
social justice for his people.
Having said this, it must be acknowledged that Asari Dokubo has shown courage and remarkable consistency in his articulation of the crisis in the delta, and how it might be resolved. When American journalists write about Dokubo and the emerging phenomenon of warlord politics in Nigeria, they hardly mention the fact that he has been calling for a sovereign national conference in the country where elected representatives of the various interest groups would dialogue on the terms of association between the constituent parts of the country.
Also, these journalists do not mention the fact that Dokubo has been unequivocal in his condemnation of the practices of the oil companies that have polluting been Ijoland and other delta communities these past five decades, and also supplying Nigerian troops with the guns they have been using to murder young men in the delta. These are issues that Dokubo has never failed to raise in the various interviews he has given to Nigerian journalists these past two years.
One may not agree with some of Dokubo’s arguments and the practical method he has resorted to, but it is not helpful when he is cavalierly dismissed as a blood-thirsty upstart who is more blood than brains. And it would seem to me that it is this perception of Dokubo as a mindless thug who can be easily be outmaneuvered, that informed the so-called peace process the Nigerian government inaugurated a few months ago, culminating in what was to have been a complete elimination of guns in the Niger delta last December 31.
December 31 has come and gone and the guns are still spitting fire in the delta. Worse, Asari Dokubo has made it clear that he will not be stampeded into turning in all his guns, that the peace process agreement was not binding on him, and that indeed he did not consider the so-called civil society ‘leaders’ who invited him to conference on the peace-process as credible arbitrators.
I must admit that I find myself in agreement with Dokubo on some of the points he raised. I am all for him turning in his guns and pursuing his objective of securing justice for the Ijo through the avenue of peaceful democratic politics. This has always been, and shall continue to be my preference whenever and wherever a people are confronted with injustice of monumental proportions.
But it is an exercise in foolhardiness to expect Asari Dokubo to give up his guns when Nigerian soldiers, Navy ratings, and riot police are still firmly in place in the delta, working with the oil companies to enforce the regime of depradation that has reduced the Ijo, Ikwerre, Itsekiri, and all the other oil-bearing communities to a state of near-animal existence. No self-respecting patriot will stand by while aggressors are delivering the death-blow on his people.
How then might Dokubo be meaningfully engaged so that he will not only see,
but also agree, that de-commissioning his guns and disbanding his insurgents is the
only forward? I shall outline three main steps the Nigerian government must take,
and in good faith, to achieve this objective. One, the Nigerian government must turn away from the comedy of relying on one or two Abuja-based NGO ‘leaders’ to broker a peace-process in the Niger Delta. These ‘Executive Directors’ represent only themselves, and they are out to corner as many bags of Naira as a naïve Aso Rock is willing to pass their way.
The Ijo and the other delta communities do not lack credible civil society leaders. Some of them, like Professor Ebiegberi Alagoa, author of the classic book, The Brave Small City-State, have been writing and reflecting on the problems of the area for over four decades. These revered personages, and an emergent generation of younger delta scholars like Dr Lucky Akaruese and Asume Osuoka, should be asked to provide an intellectual framework, backed by solid evidential research, to power a meaningful peace process.
Two, Asari Dokubo’s call for a Sovereign National Conference wherein his people might be enabled to air their grievances and dialogue with other Nigerians about ways in which resources might be produced and allocated equitably, must be heeded. The Wole Soyinka-led Citizen Forum and Dokubo are at one here when they stress that this national dialogue must be sovereign, and rid of the usual rigmarole of stuffing the deliberations with government nominees.
Third, the Federal Government, as a demonstration of good faith and its
commitment to a peaceful resolution of the delta crisis, must lead the way by de-commissioning its own guns in the delta first before calling on Dokubu to follow suit. As I write, the George Bush government is dispatching yet another batch of fast-attack boats, armed with lethal weaponry, to President Obasanjo, to be used in ‘policing’ the Niger Delta. It is no use calling for peace in the Niger Delta while at the same time consorting with the most aggressive government the people of the United States have ever seen, to further militarise the Niger delta.
The Nigerian government would be making a grievous mistake to think that the likes of Asari Dokubo can be used and easily discarded like a shoe that has outlived its usefulness. The Dokubos are ymptomatic of a larger, and quickly spreading national crisis. This is the crisis of Nigerian youth, now numbering over fifty million young souls, whose future has been squandered by one of the most corrupt and enlightened elites our continent has ever seen.
In the Niger delta, which is Nigeria’s ground zero, these angry Young Turks are now armed. And they are about to storm the city gates. It is not yet too late to persuade them to put down their guns.
Ike Okonta
Having said this, it must be acknowledged that Asari Dokubo has shown courage and remarkable consistency in his articulation of the crisis in the delta, and how it might be resolved. When American journalists write about Dokubo and the emerging phenomenon of warlord politics in Nigeria, they hardly mention the fact that he has been calling for a sovereign national conference in the country where elected representatives of the various interest groups would dialogue on the terms of association between the constituent parts of the country.
Also, these journalists do not mention the fact that Dokubo has been unequivocal in his condemnation of the practices of the oil companies that have polluting been Ijoland and other delta communities these past five decades, and also supplying Nigerian troops with the guns they have been using to murder young men in the delta. These are issues that Dokubo has never failed to raise in the various interviews he has given to Nigerian journalists these past two years.
One may not agree with some of Dokubo’s arguments and the practical method he has resorted to, but it is not helpful when he is cavalierly dismissed as a blood-thirsty upstart who is more blood than brains. And it would seem to me that it is this perception of Dokubo as a mindless thug who can be easily be outmaneuvered, that informed the so-called peace process the Nigerian government inaugurated a few months ago, culminating in what was to have been a complete elimination of guns in the Niger delta last December 31.
December 31 has come and gone and the guns are still spitting fire in the delta. Worse, Asari Dokubo has made it clear that he will not be stampeded into turning in all his guns, that the peace process agreement was not binding on him, and that indeed he did not consider the so-called civil society ‘leaders’ who invited him to conference on the peace-process as credible arbitrators.
I must admit that I find myself in agreement with Dokubo on some of the points he raised. I am all for him turning in his guns and pursuing his objective of securing justice for the Ijo through the avenue of peaceful democratic politics. This has always been, and shall continue to be my preference whenever and wherever a people are confronted with injustice of monumental proportions.
But it is an exercise in foolhardiness to expect Asari Dokubo to give up his guns when Nigerian soldiers, Navy ratings, and riot police are still firmly in place in the delta, working with the oil companies to enforce the regime of depradation that has reduced the Ijo, Ikwerre, Itsekiri, and all the other oil-bearing communities to a state of near-animal existence. No self-respecting patriot will stand by while aggressors are delivering the death-blow on his people.
How then might Dokubo be meaningfully engaged so that he will not only see,
but also agree, that de-commissioning his guns and disbanding his insurgents is the
only forward? I shall outline three main steps the Nigerian government must take,
and in good faith, to achieve this objective. One, the Nigerian government must turn away from the comedy of relying on one or two Abuja-based NGO ‘leaders’ to broker a peace-process in the Niger Delta. These ‘Executive Directors’ represent only themselves, and they are out to corner as many bags of Naira as a naïve Aso Rock is willing to pass their way.
The Ijo and the other delta communities do not lack credible civil society leaders. Some of them, like Professor Ebiegberi Alagoa, author of the classic book, The Brave Small City-State, have been writing and reflecting on the problems of the area for over four decades. These revered personages, and an emergent generation of younger delta scholars like Dr Lucky Akaruese and Asume Osuoka, should be asked to provide an intellectual framework, backed by solid evidential research, to power a meaningful peace process.
Two, Asari Dokubo’s call for a Sovereign National Conference wherein his people might be enabled to air their grievances and dialogue with other Nigerians about ways in which resources might be produced and allocated equitably, must be heeded. The Wole Soyinka-led Citizen Forum and Dokubo are at one here when they stress that this national dialogue must be sovereign, and rid of the usual rigmarole of stuffing the deliberations with government nominees.
Third, the Federal Government, as a demonstration of good faith and its
commitment to a peaceful resolution of the delta crisis, must lead the way by de-commissioning its own guns in the delta first before calling on Dokubu to follow suit. As I write, the George Bush government is dispatching yet another batch of fast-attack boats, armed with lethal weaponry, to President Obasanjo, to be used in ‘policing’ the Niger Delta. It is no use calling for peace in the Niger Delta while at the same time consorting with the most aggressive government the people of the United States have ever seen, to further militarise the Niger delta.
The Nigerian government would be making a grievous mistake to think that the likes of Asari Dokubo can be used and easily discarded like a shoe that has outlived its usefulness. The Dokubos are ymptomatic of a larger, and quickly spreading national crisis. This is the crisis of Nigerian youth, now numbering over fifty million young souls, whose future has been squandered by one of the most corrupt and enlightened elites our continent has ever seen.
In the Niger delta, which is Nigeria’s ground zero, these angry Young Turks are now armed. And they are about to storm the city gates. It is not yet too late to persuade them to put down their guns.
Ike Okonta