Essay
FOR those people conversant with my ideological leaning, they can frankly vouch that I have never been a fan of Mr. Peter Obi in political terms, for the mere reason that I have always viewed him as a political conservative, what we refer in revolutionary terms as reactionary. But the teething matter before the Nigerian masses currently is not about ideological leanings, whether revolutionary, reactionary, or conservative.
It is matter that borders on integrity in leadership founded on the principle of moral dexterity, intellectual adroitness, and motivational creativity. And this is where both Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar are no competitors to Mr. Peter Obi. So I don’t know from which psycho-political angle Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo was coming from when he described Mr. Peter Obi as a scam.
I have never been keen in coming very close to Alhaji Asari Dokubo throughout my activism in Lagos and beyond because I have always regarded him as a political scammer woven in vain glorifying militant instinct, which indeed he is from all definable points of view. And this was based on the facts I gathered about him in Tripoli, Libya in 2009. The only time I came close to him was during a meeting of Nigerian activists in Century Hotel Okota, Lagos, convened by the Late Leader of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) Dr. Frederick Isotan Faseun. I could remember how he turned uneasily at the mention of my visit to Libya; and indeed he had every reason to be unease because that could have revealed to him that someone might have known his secrets with Brother Muammar Gaddafi.
When I visited Libya in 2009 on the invitation of the Libyan Government I was offered every incentive to convert to Islam and join Asari Dokubo in his proposed jihad in Southern Nigeria. I was assigned to a Black Libyan security official, who visited me three times in my Five Star Hotel room in Tripoli and I was promised two hundred and fifty thousand US dollars as an incentive, which I cautiously rejected on the ground that coming from a strong Christian community and as a traditional Chief, I would no longer be taken serious by my community, since they would definitely attach my new wealth to my conversion. That was after Nigeria’s Senate President Senator David Mark had described Col. Muammar Gaddafi as a mad man for suggesting the division of Nigeria into many countries, which Col. Gaddafi was happy with and personally protested to the Nigerian Delegation during a special meeting with him. My explanation did not go down well with the security official who attempted to accuse me of being an Israeli Government agent, citing Asari Dokubo’s case as evidence that my Christian background had nothing to do with my decision not to convert to Islam.
It was then it dawned on me that it was indeed Muammar Gaddafi that was sponsoring Alhaji Asari Dokubo. It was also during that meeting that I meet some members of Boko Haram who were then based in Chad, Tuareg militants from Mali, Seleke rebels from Central African Republic, and aspiring Islamic insurgents in the present Congo DRC. Similarly, I equally discovered that most of the Emirs in Northern Nigeria, and Igbo Muslim scammers were sponsored by Libya. Indeed it was an Igbo Muslim scammer from Imo State that attempted to blackmail me as an agent of State of Israel because of the special attention I was granted.
It did not end there. On my return I tried to inform the Directorate of State Security (DSS) of the impending calamity but the then Director of Administration and Finance Felix Ikumapayi, who was my contact person, denied me audience. On April 11, 2013, when the Mali conflict increased in momentum, and I was certain that Nigeria will be the next in line, I appeared on Channels Television Sunrise morning program to explain the impending danger, but the Muslim anchor did not afford me the space to do so.
In 2016, I decided to challenge the current Federal Government at Federal High Court, Asaba in SUIT NO.: FHC / ASB / CS / 11 / 2016, over its Islamization policy when I discovered that its emerging pro-Islamic policies were prelude to the current widespread insurgency in Nigeria. It was for that reason that I was marked out for elimination, hence my present exile. In 2017, I wrote a private letter to all the Nigerian Christian leaders warning them of the impending danger. Only Pastor Enoch Adeboye replied, telling me they will be praying for me and not Nigeria. Today it is obvious that the problem has gone beyond not just praying for me but praying for the entire country.
So Alhaji Asari Dokubo’s political antics have nothing to do with the collective interests of his Ijaw kinsmen but revolve round a self-centeredness driven by covetous jihadist instinct painted in spurious militancy that hide under the cover of Islamic identity. This can better be explained by the contrasting trajectory of his carriage to those of such Ijaw noble sons as His Majesty King Ateke Tom— Amanyanabo of the Okrika Kingdom of Okochiri, and the most respected warrior of my Delta State, Tompolo Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo. These are men of honor whose pedigrees in militancy are not questionable. Asari Dokubo contested Local Government Councilor election and failed; contested Local Government Chairmanship election and failed; contested House of Assembly election and fail. How can such a man stand up to question the integrity and followership of a two-time Governor of such a competitive Igbo State as Anambra?
I am not in any dispute with Asari Dokubo over his support for Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the obvious reason that they are fellow Southern jihadists whose sources of wealth are predicated on questionable means. Moreover from the words of Asari Dokubo’s mouth, it was clear that his further support for Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu was predicated on infantile selfishness and not on principle. Hear what he said on June 10, 2022:
“When I was in prison, Tinubu was so kind to me; he paid my children’s school fees. He gave me a house at VGC. He gave my wife a house at Ogba. When Tinubu was taken to the Code of conduct for trial, I trekked miles and when I entered the court, he came to embrace me after the court session. Dokubo said that Nigerians will miss a lot if they fail to vote Tinubu, adding that he (Tinubu) has many qualities that would lift Nigeria beyond imagination.”[1]
Does the above statement indicate someone with principle and cognitive intelligence? This is the problem with Nigeria and Nigerian leadership today, where the craze for illicit wealth and the ability to accumulate it, no matter its immoral trajectory, determine audacity in political utterance and leadership, otherwise outside Asari Dokubo’s primitive accumulation of incongruous wealth through selfish-driven militancy, who in Nigeria would have cared to listen to him, much more seeing him appear as a political opinion molder. Since he claims to be of King Amakree ancestry whose Igbo root is indisputable in history, I had expected Asari Dokubo to exhibit some bits of Igbo sense of tact and wisdom in his utterances.
To further quote him:
“Anambra State is one of the advantageous states in Nigeria because of the people. They have Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi. These are the biggest goldmines in Nigeria after Lagos, Port Harcourt and Aba. They said he saved seventy-something billion. What is seventy-something billion? The money that Wike toys with in Rivers. How would you compare Obi with Tinubu or Atiku? What is his antecedent? Lies. You are showing documents.”[2]
Let me asked Alhaji Asari Dokubo, if as he said, “Anambra State is one of the advantageous states in Nigeria because of the people”, is Peter Obi not one of the people that make Anambra one of the advantageous States in Nigeria? What makes Onitsha, Awka, and Nnewi the biggest goldmines in Nigeria, outside Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Aba? Are any of these towns larger than Ibadan, Kaduna, and Kano in terms of population and Federal Government presence?
Seventy billion naira Mr. Peter Obi saved for Anambra was a big plus not only in financial but in moral terms to the people of Anambra State who have no oil to illegally bunker, no oil workers to kidnap for ransom, no oil pipelines to guard on inflated security contracts, no Federal Government amnesty money meant for unfortunate militants to embezzle and, no billions of oil revenue in dollars to squander. This is a matter of decency and prudence in financial management and not squandermania. And this is where Mr. Peter Obi excels more than the hosts of Asari Dokubo’s mentors and political godfathers. This is the fundamental reason Nigerians want Peter Obi as the next President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is the fundamental reason Nigerians are being told to reject with fulsome alacrity both Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar because of their calamitous squandermania syndrome and cancerous trait that has taken the Nigerian nation down to the abyss of Golgotha.
Asari Dokubo was telling Nigerians: “How would you compare Obi with Tinubu or Atiku? What is his antecedent? Lies. You are showing documents.” The point is that Asari Dokubo does not even know Mr. Peter Obi neither does he know his two Alhaji mentors—Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Indeed, this is where education pass money; otherwise he would know that in positive terms there is no basis of comparison between Mr. Peter Obi and the duo of Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Does he know why?
Number one reason is that Peter Obi made his money outside Nigeria and from private sector and invested back in Nigeria; while Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar made their wealth from the sweat and blood of Nigerians and illicitly laundered same to foreign countries. The same act of unpatriotic spirit that guided Asari Dokubo’s investment in Benin Republic instead of Nigeria.
Number two reason is that Peter Obi has one of the most successful indigenous breweries that compete strongly of such established multi-national breweries as Nigerian Breweries Plc and Guinness Plc, among other investments he established outside the walls of politics. I challenge Asari Dokubo to tell Nigerians one single investment or industry credited to both Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar outside the walls of Nigerian politics both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
Number three is that, outside the illicit money made from Lagos State Government both as a Governor and in continuation as godfather, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no other credible source of income that could define him as a credible wealthy man in Nigeria. The same scenario applies to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, whose sources of wealth do not go beyond the Government of Federal Republic of Nigeria both as Director (Comptroller General) of Nigeria Customs Service, and Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Number four is that unlike Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who have inundations of allegations bothering on misappropriation of public funds under their superintendence, Peter Obi has no skeletons in his political cupboard in relation to misappropriation of public funds as the Governor of Anambra State for eight years.
So I don’t know the kind of antecedent Alhaji Dokubo was talking about. Was it criminal antecedent, drug peddling antecedent, or money laundering antecedent? Definitely Asari Dokubo would not be talking about antecedent in its proper usage if he actually understands the meaning in moral terms. Speaking of antecedent, what antecedent has Asari Dokubo outside the fact that he abandoned his university education on two occasions to join militancy, from which point he became anathema to his kinsmen, his primitive accumulation notwithstanding.
And this explains why Asari Dokubo cannot speak for the people of Rivers State in general and the Ijaw nation in particular. His primary allegiance is to his co-Islamic brothers and not to those joined to him by ancestral heirloom. He once confessed that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola once asked him, referring to his association with his kinsmen: “why do you stay in a place where you are tolerated, instead of staying where you are celebrated?[3]”
Finally, I wish to advise Southern Nigerians especially the Christians to be very cautious with Alhaji Asari Dokubo in words and deeds because he is not with them and he cannot be trusted. His vision of Nigeria as a Mujaheed—Islamic holy warrior, is not different from those of the terrorist Muslim Fulani Herdsmen, killer-Bandits, ISWAP, and Boko Haram insurgents; which is to conquer and Islamize Nigeria’s Christian majority. This is the fundamental reason he bought Benin Republic citizenship and transferred all his wealth and investments to Benin Republic. Nigerians shine your eyes before this man. I don tok me own.
Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD, DD
Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Pioneer Director, Centre for Igbo Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Odogwu of Ibusa Clan, Delta State of Nigeria
Africanist Scholar, Author, Human Rights Activist and Public Affairs Commentator
Convener, Project Never Again Deborah Samuel for Christian Liberation
Email: neveragain.coalitionnig@gmail.com
A.I.
Tags: Asari Dokubo Mr. Peter Obi Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
