Asari Dokubo Under Fire over Comment on the Attack on Buhari

Niger Delta ex-militant warlord, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari Dokubo, has come under fire over his comment on the terrorist attack that almost claimed the life of former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

“In as much as I do not hold brief for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, I submit that remarks such as the one made by Alhaji Dokubo-Asari are capable of further polarising our polity to the detriment of the vulnerable and underprivileged Nigerians and I call on all well-informed Nigerians to condemn same, and in particular for the Presidency to dissociate itself from the above vexatious and inflammatory statement owing to the closeness of its author to President Goodluck Jonathan.

“We are all living witnesses of the Sheikh Lemu’s Committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan after the 2011 general elections to probe the electoral violence that took place in the north during the general elections. The Committee’s report subsequently exonerated Gen Muhammadu Buhari of any wrongdoing. 

"We are also not oblivious of the fact that three years after the Committee submitted its final report to President Goodluck Jonathan, his administration is yet to implement same, so it would be foolhardy to associate a man of Gen Buhari’s standing with violence.”

A group, Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to call Asari-Dokubo to order.

Asari-Dokubo recently alleged that Buhari masterminded the terror attack on his own convoy in Kaduna to kill innocent Nigerians in a desperate bid for him and his group to take over power from Jonathan in 2015.

Reacting to the allegation, CENTREP’s executive director, Mr Oghenejabor Ikimi, described Asari-Dokubo’s statement as “childish.” He urge Nigerians to condemn the statement and the Presidency to disassociate itself from the statement.

Ikimi said Asari's statement could polarise and threaten the corporate existence of the country.

He further said that rather than launder the image of President Goodluck Jonathan and that of his administration by engaging in mutual respect and cooperation with others, some of his close associates and tribesmen like the tough-talking Asari Dokubo had chosen the opposite.

Ikimi called on the president to call his misguided supporters to order for the sake of Nigeria's unity.