APC decries Asari-Dokubo’s call to war, questions SSS’ professionalism

Asari Dokubo threatened to wage war if President Jonathan is not re-elected
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned the threat by Mujahid Dokubo-Asari to levy war against Nigeria if President Goodluck Jonathan is defeated even in a free and fair election in 2015.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said despite the attacks by oil militants in the Niger Delta and the ongoing insurgency by Boko Haram in some parts of the north, Nigeria has not witnessed a clearer and louder call to war than Asari-Dokubo’s senseless vituperation since the country’s civil war ended in 1970.

The party was referring to media reports on Tuesday, quoting Mr. Dokubo as saying his group will take up arms if Mr. Jonathan is not returned as president after the 2015 election. The party described the threat as reckless, irresponsible and totally condemnable.

The party said Nigerians are waiting to see what the State Security Service, SSS, which recently questioned its Deputy National Secretary, Nasir El-Rufai, for warning against election rigging in 2015, will do now that an ally of Mr. Jonathan has threatened the existence of Nigeria..

”What on earth gave Asari-Dokubo the confidence to issue threats against a whole nation? If he doesn’t care about elections and democracy, how else could his hero, President Jonathan, have come to power? Does he know the meaning of anarchy? Does he think anyone, no matter how big, is more important than his country or bigger than its constitution?

”When he said President Jonathan ‘must complete the mandatory constitutionally-allowable two terms of eight years’ or the militants will make Nigeria ungovernable, was he aware that even the North that has become his favourite whipping boy did not complete its own eight years before his kinsman became President?

”It is not Asari-Dokubo’s fault. When we warned against the handing over of the nation’s maritime security to a company owned by an ex-militant in 2012, many thought we were crying wolf where none existed. But the threat by an ex-militant to ensure that no vessel will be allowed to enter the nation’s territorial waters unless President Jonathan is re-elected has shown the dangers inherent in such actions,” the APC said

The party said it wonders why President Jonathan, who said his ambition is not worth anyone’s blood, has neither condemned nor called his out-of-control kinsmen like Asari-Dokubo to order.

The APC said Asari-Dokubo has overstretched his luck by even trying to dictate to political parties to field only South-South candidates for the presidency in 2015, wondering what gave him the audacity to make such a careless statement.

”We in the APC will never be cowed by the senseless, emotional outburst of a man whose sense of decency stretches the size of a coin. We make bold to say that Nigeria will survive and thrive, whether or not some people want it. We reiterate the truism that election is the bedrock of democracy, and that anointing of candidates – as Asari-Dokubo would want Nigeria’s political parties to do – is the very antithesis of democracy,” the party said.

The party demanded that the SSS acts on Mr. Dokubo-Asari’s threat or be taken unserious.

”There is no better test of the fairness, non-partisanship and professionalism of the SSS than this Asari-Dokubo’s threat to levy war on his own country. If Asari-Dokubo is not above the laws of the land, he must be hauled before the SSS, just like the service did to our Deputy National Secretary, to explain his statement,” the APC said.