Posted by Ise-Oluwa Ige on
Detained leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari yesterday went wild inside the courtroom No 4 of the Federal high court, Abuja where he is being prosecuted by the Federal Government for treason as he accused the trial judge in the case, Justice Peter Olayiwola of selling out to the government.
ABUJA - Detained leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari yesterday went wild inside the courtroom No 4 of the Federal high court, Abuja where he is being prosecuted by the Federal Government for treason as he accused the trial judge in the case, Justice Peter Olayiwola of selling out to the government.
Dokubo launched the attack moments after Justice Olayiwola threw out his (Dokubo) bail application and rose for the day.
Citing security reason, for deny the accused person bail, Justice Olayiwola said "the security fear expressed by the prosecution has not been assuaged by the applicant (Dokubo). In the circumstance, this court will refuse bail in this matter"
As soon as the judge concluded his ruling, Dokubo, talking to himself said: "this is it. Where is justice in this country? Where is justice? I say where is justice? I cant get justice here."
He then looked in the direction of his counsel, Mr Festus Keyamo who had argued the bail application brilliantly on Thursday, and said aloud "didn't I tell you? Where is justice in this country?" to which Keyamo responded saying "we will appeal it"
Not pacify by his lawyers response, Dokubo raised his voice apparently for the judge who had withdrawn into his chambers to hear, accusing him of connivance with the Federal Government to deny him his freedom.
His words: "they don't have any evidence against me. Imagine the judgment of this court? Is this justice? How can a trial judge go on to deny me of my freedom
"It is clear that there is no evidence against me based on what is in their proof of evidence. And a judge who is supposed to give justice in this matter by granting me bail has refused to do justice in this matter. This is very criminal. It is sad for this country
"This injustice done by this judge will go down on record. I even knew it. I saw it coming when they surreptitiously changed the judge that was handling this case without informing my counsel. Is this the tradition? Is this the rule of law?" he added.
Although he was looking charged and uncontrollable, security men who were keeping close watch on him inside the courtroom moved closer to him, telling him that it was time to go back to prison where he would be remanded until January 11 and 12, 2006 when full blown trial in his case is expected to kick off.
He obeyed them but did not keep quiet, hurling expletives at both the trial judge and the Federal Government prosecuting him.
As if Dokubo"s quiet wife suddenly realized that the implication of the judge"s ruling was that Dokubo would spend both Xmas and new year in the Kuje prisons, her spirit went low but suddenly came alive attacking both the judge and the Federal Government too.
While this was on-going, Dokubo had been led down from the one-storey courtroom on the OAU Quarters, Maitama, by security men and like a warlord, stood at the entrance of the high court, addressing his sympathizers, encouraging them.
He said "Obasanjo is a stooge of the West. I am being punished, indicted for a just cause. Whatever the case, you don"t worry, we will triumph.
As if he was acting a movie, Dokubo took a step forward, raised his voice and one of his legs up and started a song titled: ""there is one more river to cross""
As he was singing, he started moving towards a waiting black maria that brought him to court while his relations, sympathizers, his organization members and his amputee brother who was on permanent wheel chair were following him, singing the song.
It was so until he climbed into the black maria with armed security men blocking the maria"s entrance and was driven off their sight.
Immediately after Dokubo was taken away, his sympathizers and relations also went wild, saying Nigeria would know no peace until either all Niger Deltans were killed or their wish for freedom was respected.
For instance, Dokubo"s wife, Mujhidat who was not happy with the situation cried out loudly, saying: ""they want to kill my husband. They don"t have any fact or evidence against him. He is innocent. They are now taking an innocent man into prison. We will fight with our last blood. We are not Nigerians. The government is colonizing us in our own land
""And until the Niger Delta people are free, there will be no peace in this country. The truth is that it is either they kill all of us or we gain our freedom.
""We are dying. International communities should come and rescue us. They want to kill Dokubo the way they kill Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa. If they don"t kill all of us, Nigeria will not know peace,"" she added.
While she was shouting, a relation pointed her attention to a newspaper publication about discovery of illegal firearms in her husband"s residence to which she spat fire, saying there was no time any rifle or live ammunitions were recovered from her house.
""It was true that our house was searched. It is where I live with my children. The search was conducted by a team of security men led by S S S Kama. They didn"t see not even a knife. I was there while the search was on. I don"t know how they came out with these fictitious stories. It is part of their propaganda to nail my husband,"" he said.
Mr Festus Keyamo also spoke with newsmen yesterday, saying: ""we were all in court yesterday (Thursday). Everybody heard us, saw the legal points we raised. You also saw how bad the prosecution performed. You have also heard the judge speak on this issue.
""There is no gainsaying it. We are not satisfied with the ruling of the court. We are disillusioned, discouraged, disappointed and disenchanted. All the reason he gave for denying us bail is security fear about his freedom. But we must say that this judgment has a heavy scent of the Federal Government. We will definitely appeal it,"" he said.
Also on the court premises yesterday, a young lady who identified herself as Dokubo"s campaign managress, Engineer Caroline Bakumo started circulating a leaflet allegedly emanating from Dokubo himself.
The statement titled ""Where I stand - - Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari"" reads:
q· Our struggle is to validate the treaties of our forebears signed with the British Crown
q· The land and resources found in it belong to the nation who own the land
q· The benefits from these resources should go to the people
q· Equal benefit should go to all the people……and many others.
Hearing in the case resumes next year, January 10.