Buhari’s Victory Has Reignited Our Desire To Return To The Creeks, Says Asari-Dokubo

Self-acclaimed Niger-Delta activist, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, says with the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan in Saturday’s presidential poll, he and other militants may be forced to return to the creeks.

Asari-Dokubo, an Ijaw and staunch ally of the president, said the outcome of the election revealed a voting pattern suggesting the South-West and the North, which incidentally have the largest voting population, ganged up against the South-South and South-East geo-political zones.

The ex-militant made these views known in a statement by his spokesman, Rex Anighoro.

Asari-Dokubo said it was unfair that the minorities were being emasculated by the majority ethnic groups even as he expressed concern the government of the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, would be vicious.

Asari-Dokubo said, “The conditions that advanced the need to embrace the creeks have been sadly re-energised. It is clear that a vicious government who may maim and murder the voice of the so-called minorities may have just been birthed.

“Indeed integration is non-existent as regional gang-ups and supremacy is symbolic with this victory”.

The ex-militant, who had in January threatened to mobilize his colleagues to blow up oil installations and cripple the economy if Jonathan lost the election, praised the incumbent for being a true statesman.

He said it was the struggle of the militants that led to the Jonathan presidency.

Asari-Dokubo said since the South-South had lost the presidency, ex-militants would meet to take a position on the next line of action.

He said, “While President Jonathan enjoys his moments and basks in the euphoria of a new world-renowned statesman having congratulated Muhammadu Buhari, we must quickly be reminded that our struggle was never about Jonathan or about the presidency.

“President Jonathan is an establishment beneficiary of our struggle, our sweat and blood that many bled and died for. He was never in the struggle and he can never wish away our collective march for statesmanship.

“Yes indeed, to an extent, he was a mitigating factor in self-determination pursuit as we went on sabbatical. This mitigation he seems to have willingly repudiated. The days coming will be critical. We shall study all the conditions and consult widely before determining the way forward for our collective existence and survival as a people. The days coming shall either drive the quest of integration or further separate us”.