PDP Crisis: Arrest Obasanjo, Atiku, others now – Asari-Dokubo

Mr. Asari-Dokubo says Jonathan is unreasonably shielding Amaechi.

The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar, for their alleged role in the raging crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He also asked President Goodluck Jonathan to deal decisively with members of the “New PDP” led by Kawu Baraje, especially the seven governors in its fold, by arresting their associates.

Mr. Asari-Dokubo, who stated this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday in Abuja, however, refused to speak about former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who he said had not taken sides with either the breakaway group or the mainstream PDP led by Bamanga Tukur.

Atiku and the PDP governors of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kwara, Rivers, Adamawa and Niger States belong to the Baraje faction of the party. They announced the birth of the faction last August 31.

Mr Obasanjo headed the PDP elders team that mediated unsuccessfully in the crisis, though some of the governors are believed to be his political associates.

“’Obasanjo should be arrested and detained, yes and Atiku (Abubakar),” Mr. Asari-Dokubo said. “They are ordinary citizens of this country they are nobody. They are nobody. I don’t know about Babangida, he has not come out to talk about where he belongs.”

The NDPVF leader said there was no need pampering members of the Baraje faction, noting that with their action, they had shown that they were miscreants. According to him, members of the faction fouled of the Electoral Act by setting up a secretariat for a party that was not in existence.

According to him, “Those political miscreants; the president should use a hammer against them. There’s no basis indulging these miscreants; they should be treated as such.

“There’s only one registered PDP known to INEC and Tukur is the chairman of that PDP. For the president to indulge them is a slap on the face of politics. He should have hit them if they go against the law.

“If you set up a secretariat for a party that’s not ready, then they should be arrested and detained. There’s no party called new PDP. They should be treated as a lawbreaker.”

Reminded of the constitutional immunity of the governors from arrest, Mr. Asari-Dokubo said, “(Since) the governors enjoy immunity, they should pick people around them, then they will know.”

He described the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi as “a traitor” even as he alleged that Mr. Jonathan was shielding the governor by his frequent visits to Rivers State.

“Amaechi is a traitor to all people, traitor to the interest of all members of the South-South and the South-East. He should be treated like a traitor.

“The President is shielding Amaechi; he is not fighting him, if not he shouldn’t be coming to Port Harcourt every day.”