Posted by By CHRISTIAN ITA, FEMI FOLARANMI (Bayelsa) and SEGUN AJIBOYE on
In what appears to be a volte face, the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), has apologised to the Yoruba race over utterances made by its leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, during which he described Chief Obafemi Awolowo as evil.
In what appears to be a volte face, the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), has apologised to the Yoruba race over utterances made by its leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, during which he described Chief Obafemi Awolowo as evil.
Despite the angry reactions from prominent Yorubas trailing the utterances, Dokubo insisted on Monday that not only would he not retract the said offensive statement, but also declared he was battle ready for any onslaught from the Yoruba.
He in no uncertain terms threatened that thousands of Yoruba 'will go" should there be an attack on the Ijaw anywhere in Yorubaland.
But speaking with Sunday Sun Thursday in Patani, Delta State, the Commander of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, General British Columbus Epibade apologised to the Yoruba on behalf of Dokubo.
Epibade's apology is coming just as the national coordinator of the Yoruba militant group, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Gani Adams declared that the Ijaw militant leader had bitten more than he can chew.
The NDPVF commander said: ' I have been trying to reach Alhaji (Asari-Dokubo) but I cannot get him. Many people have been calling from Lagos crying and expressing fear over the looming danger. As commander of the NDPVF, I plead not only with Gani Adams and OPC members but the entire Yoruba nation for the statement that might have offended them. They should forgive Alhaji Asari Dokubo."
Epibade said he has made several unsuccessful attempts to speak with the OPC leader.
According to him, he had tried to reach some members of the OPC on phone but his calls were not picked probably because 'they are annoyed."
He however, warned against misconstruing his apology for weakness, stating that his militant group was capable of taking on any group or force in the country.
His words: ' If I can lead forces to fight the Nigerian state, there is no group I cannot lead my people to fight. But you must not because you have fighting machinery now create trouble. We are not afraid of anybody and it is not a sign of weakness that I have decided to apologise. Even though we have disarmed, I did not bind my hands with ropes that I cannot get necessary weapons of warfare. But we don't want any problem with any group"
He also frowned at the attempt to rubbish the activism of the NDPVF against injustice in the Niger-Delta region, stressing that Gani Adams should not allow 'anything prevent the Yoruba and Ijaw from having a common front".
Meanwhile, a fuming Gani Adams told Sunday Sun in Lagos, that OPC would not fold its arms and 'watch these people denigrate us. We shall fight back with everything at our disposal."
He said to the statement credited to Asari-Dokubo is part of a 'calculated attempts by some enemies of Yoruba to insult us. Not long ago, the Oba of Benin made some statements about our progenitor, now it is the turn of an Ijaw man.
'Giving Dokubo an ultimatum is not necessary. I can tell you that he is finished, unless he apologises and beg us. If he thinks because he has about seven Kalashinikov and now feels he has arrived, he has another thing coming. He is a small boy. Where was he when we were fighting the military? Where was he when NADECO and other groups were fighting? I don't reckon with him. I reckon with other Ijaw activists like Oronto Douglas and others, but he is definitely not among them.
'He has proved that he is indeed a megalomaniac. He is actively involved in illegal bunkering. Now that he has made so much money, he thinks he can insult anybody. He is just too small to take on the Yoruba race.
'He does not even know what he wants. He has been running from one religion to another. Now he claims to be a Muslim. But I ask, what kind of a Muslim is he? He still wears charms on his arms. He still goes about with charms, yet he claims to be a Muslim."
Continuing, the OPC leader said, ' I want to believe that Dokubo does not have any fact about Awolowo. If he did, he would not have dared call Awolowo a devil. The insult was not to Awolowo, but to the entire Yoruba race. No single Yoruba son or daughter would want to have anything to do with somebody who called our hero a devil. How dare him call Awolowo a devil? To make it worse, he committed the abominable sin on our soil.
'Dokubo has proved that he is not sure of the struggle he claims to be championing. He called somebody who championed the cause of the masses between 1954 till he died, a person who managed the economy of this country during the war without borrowing a penny, you call that person a devil. The person who started the free education policy in the country and even extended a hand of fellowship to other regions, would you call that person a devil? Dokubo has bitten more than he can chew.
'As far as we are concerned, Awolowo is a god in Yorubaland. Dokubo has destroyed himself by calling him a devil. If indeed he is an activist as he claims, it therefore means that he has cursed himself and his forebears, because Awolowo was the father of activism in Nigeria.
'I'm not all that surprised any way. He was unable to achieve anything as a student. He left two universities without any certificate. What do you call that? I'll tell you, he is suffering."