Posted by By CHRIS IKWUNZE, CHRIS AGUNWEZE, Port Harcourt, LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja, MUYIWA OYINLOLA, Lagos on
The relative peace existing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital was shattered Wednesday following a violent clash between the police and loyalists of Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo over the latter's arrest.
The relative peace existing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital was shattered Wednesday following a violent clash between the police and loyalists of Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo over the latter's arrest.
Acting Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero confirmed on Wednesday that Asari-Dokubo was in police custody.
In the same vein the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) threatened a mass protest if the leaders of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) was not set free within seven days, just as the pro-National Conference Organisation (PRONACO) despatched a team of lawyers to Abuja to ascertain Asari-Dokubo's welfare.
Dokubo was invited at about 6 pm Tuesday by the Rivers Commissioner of police Mr Sunday Adetuyi to his office; he was picked up by detectives from Force Headquarters and flown to Abuja.
His arrest was not unconnected with the threat by Ijaw youths to blow up oil installations as well as deal with British nationals in the region over the travails in London of Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the British police. Immediately news of the arrest filtered into the city, his loyalists went wild, shooting indiscriminately in several parts of Port Harcourt.
Panic spread in the city as the militia leader's loyalists took to the streets, cordoning off the ever-busy Port Harcourt -Aba Express Road by Garrison junction, firing several gun shots from different kinds of weapons including rocket launchers, machine guns and AK47.
Agudama street in the D-Line area of Port Harcourt where Dokubo's office is located was sealed off by the youths who barricaded both ends of the street with blocks, forcing business concerns to close.
However, the police reacted with massive force with the deployment of hundreds of heavily armed mobile policemen and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), who engaged the equally armed youths in a shoot-out.
Unconfirmed report said that five of the youths were gunned down by the police, while three policemen were said to have sustained gunshot wounds.
The police were, however, able to dislodge the armed youths from the Garrison junction and reopened the road, while confining them to Agudama street.
When Daily Sun visited the scenes of the battle at about 10.30 am, expended cartridges littered the area, while hundreds of the NDPVF fighters who brandished weapons were dancing from one end of the street to the other.
One of the fighters who would not give his name told Daily Sun:"We are watching events and if Dokubo is not back in Port Harcourt by 6pm on Wednesday, we will make the entire Niger Delta ungovernable for the government. Go and tell (President) Obasanjo that."
The second-in-command to the NDPVF leader, Nakoro Princewill in a telephone interview with Daily Sun threatened that the group would bomb the Rivers State Government House and the Police Headquarters if Asari Dokubo was not set free.
Reacting to the arrest of Dokubo, a coalition of various civil society groups has given the police a seven-point demand to release Dokubo without further delay and tender apologies to the people of the region for the embarrassment.
"Any further delay in releasing Dokubo would be met with stiff intellectual and physical opposition," the coalition said in a statement signed by Nwa-Mazi Obinna Okoro said.
But the Rivers State Government in its reaction warned those fomenting trouble to retrace their steps or have themselves to blame.
"The attention of Rivers State Government has been drawn to the state of unease in certain parts of the city. Information available to us is that this is connected to the invitation of Dokubo by the Inspector General of Police in Abuja.
"We have confirmed that Dokubo is in safe custody of the IGP in Abuja. We therefore urge members of the public to remain calm and law abiding as the state goverment is committed to the protection of the rights and liberties of all Rivers men and women and all those resident in Rivers State.
"In the interim, goverment would like to warn all those who are trying to capitalize on the present situation to harass innocent persons and cause a breach of the peace, to desist forthwithor face the full weight of the law," the statement signed by Magnus Abe, Information Commissioner said.
When Daily Sun called at the Police headquarters, the police image maker, Mrs Ireju Barasua was said to have gone out for an assignment, while the police commissioner himself was said to be holding a marathon meeting in the Government House with Governor Peter Odili and top security heads on the disturbances.
Meanwhile, most public buildings and establishment had been secured by armed joint security task force with APCs stationed at strategic points in the city. Helicopter gunship belonging to the police were hovering the sky space.
However, a new twist was added to the Ijaw youths ultimatum Wednesday when members of the Egbesu Supreme Assembly, and the Ijaw Youth Movement dissociated themselves from the threat to blow up oil installations saying that Alamieyeseigha's arrest was justified.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government Wednesday reacted to the arrest of the Asari Dokubo in Abuja, vowing that his interrogation and investigation would continue despite the threat by Ijaw youth to destabilize the country.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Frank Nweke who spoke to State House correspondents on the matter in Abuja shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Olusegun Obasanjo said government would not be cowed by such threats into condoning lawlessness in whatever form in the country.
"Only this morning, I confirmed that Asari Dokubo was arrested but the truth is that these matters are under investigation at the moment, especially that of Asari Dokubo and I have not received any security briefing on this.
"But I want to say that government remains committed to protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians and to preserve the integrity of our country. And you would agree with me that there is no responsible government that would sit back and condone these kinds of inflammatory and seditious statements that have been credited to Dokubo," he stated.