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Igbo, Ijaw Leaders Disagree Over Dokubo, FG Talks

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
October 10, 2004
Posted to the web October 11, 2004

By Austin Ogwuda & Charles Ozoemena

THE' talks between Ijaw warlords - Alhaji Dokubo Asari and Ateke Tom - and
President Olusegun Obasanjo which gave rise to the ceasefire pact by the
militias led by the warlords in the Niger-Delta have been criticized by the
Igbo influential group Ohanaeze which accused the Federal Government of double
standard.
In a counter position, however, Ijaw leaders including first republic
Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark applauded Obasanjo for what they
described as the maturity with which he handled the talks with the warlords,
saying it proved wrong those who thought the Federal Government did not
understand the criminal neglect, marginalization and deprivation of the Ijaw
people. "The way the government is handling the issue poses a double standard
which in essence makes nonsense of the government strong opposition against OPC
and MASSOB", the secretary-general of Ohanaeze, Colonel Joe Achuzia (rtd), said
at the weekend.
Achuzia went on: "Reading from what happened recently, one will say the group
(Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPUF, led by Dokubo) that threatened
brimstone against the country and the Federal Government must either have been
packaged by the Federal Government themselves or had certain amount of affinity
with the Federal Government or else, how could the government have laid a red
carpet for them and made available to them all the various hot lines of
communication as if the government is dealing with a foreign country and has to
be diplomatic in its approach? This is what I mean by double standard which
gives a wrong signal because what this means in the common man's parlance is
that the more militant you openly become, the more accommodating and red carpet
reception you get from government.
We pray that government will retrace their steps before throwing the country
into confusion", he told Sunday Vanguard.
Clark; Professor Kimse Okoko, national president of Ijaw National Congress
(INC) and Chief Bello Oboko, president of Federated Niger Delta Ijaw
Communities (FNDIC), in separate interviews at the weekend, saw the talks
between government and the warlords as sign of light at the end of the tunnel
for the agitation for a fair share for the Niger Delta people from the proceeds
of petroleum resources obtained from their land.
Clark dismissed the allegation that Dokubo and Ateke were criminals. "Alhaji
Asari Dokubo and Ateke Tom are not criminals and miscreants as some people are
trying to label them. Like Isaac Adaka Boro, the Ijaw hero of blessed memory,
Dokubo voluntarily abandoned his law programme at University of Calabar in the
80s to concentrate on the Ijaw struggle. Alhaji Asari has been to Mecca on
pilgrimage on several occasions and he is a well-to-do young man", he stated.
The Ijaw leader advised the militants to lay down their arms and reciprocate
the government's gesture. His words: "We also want to use this opportunity to
appeal to Ateke and Dokubo groups to reconcile their differences and not allow
themselves to be used and dumped by politicians of Rivers State and instigate
them to fight, kill themselves and destroy their communities. They should
realise that both of them are Nigerians and Ijaw and should therefore sink
their differences in the interest of peace and stability of their state".
Clark said the rising agitation from the different ethnic groups in the country
was an indication that Nigerians have to sit down and talk about their life and
how they want to live it, adding: "I think that is what the national conference
or whatever name they call it is all about. We cannot run away from it, it is
important for this country. So, if you say the Igbo people are rising through
the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the
Ijaw are doing their own, there is nothing strange, we are all equal owners of
this country and we all have rights to self determination." .
Okoko who confirmed that Dokubo briefed him after his meeting with Obasanjo in
Abuja was more particular about the allegation that chemical weapons were used
against the Ijaw people by the military in their offensive. He said that 11
Ijaw communities were destroyed but did not fault the struggle which Dokubo
claimed was for resource control and self determination of the Ijaw
nationality.
Oboko is not against the demand by any group or groups in the country but did
not see the battle of Dokubo as overshadowing the cause of the Ijaw or the
people of the Niger Delta. As far as the FNDIC leader is concerned, the
solution to peace in Ijaw land and, by extension, the Niger Delta, had been
provided for in the Kaiama Declaration, which entails demilitarization of Ijaw
land; extinguishing all gas flares and setting up of a government negotiating
team to discuss the Declaration with the Ijaw.
He said the engagement between Obasanjo and Dokubo was only capable of
providing a means to dialogue but not a dialogue in itself. According to him,
"we believe that the problems of the Ijaw like any other oppressed ethnic group
can only be solved at a Sovereign National Conference.."

   

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