WHEN DOKUBO COUGHS

Asari Dokubo has been off the shades of media for some time now.

The other time he came out, he challenged the statement made by one of the top politicians in Nigeria and former Head of State Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Although the statement was ethnocentric, former Head of State was making a case for free and fair election come 2015. In reaction, Dokubo swore fire and brimstone if Jonathan fails election in 2015.

Behold, last week, Asari Dokubo roared again! He made a speech which so loudly pointed to 2015 and his unbridled, riotous megalomania. He spoke to challenge Abubakah Shakau and his Boko Haram gang. He was speaking at an event organized by the Niger Delta Development Commission. This time, Dokubo dared Shakau and his men to come out to the centre stage come 2015 for a 

bloodbath.

As much as I know, Asari Dokubo is not a staff of the Nigerian Army. He is not a Soldier, formal or informal. I am still trying to understand his integrity in commanding terrorist group like Boko Haram to a battle front.

Each time Dokubo coughs, he coughs out threats. He breathes out threats of terror and violence. He dares whoever to come out for a show of might and valour.

Nigeria does not belong to Niger Delta, not even this time that a Niger Delta indigene is on the helm of affairs. No ethnic group should think that it has the power to decide who stays in Aso Rock. Nigeria belongs to all of us.

I am from an oil producing state and I don’t believe in identity politics. If the people of Nigeria say that Jonathan should step down in 2015, good, let him step down. If the people say he should continue, let him continue.

Anyone who heard or read Dokubo’s speeches last week will see unparalleled support for Jonathan and his bid to defend Jonathan, even if it will take him to hell. He was drumming support for Jonathan and he meant doing anything, whether good or bad to have Jonathan as President come 2015. That was wrong; Very wrong.

Dokubo is ethnocentric. He is not patriotic. Or better still, his loyalty is not in the Interest of Nigeria but in the interest of politics of identity.

If I were Jonathan, I will advice Dokubo to be on the offing till after 2015 election because his constant roaring and ostentatious talks may result to an unprecedented ethnic rivalry.

Nigeria is not a wrestle ring for terrorists and militants. It is not an arena for the display of savagery and lawless barbarity.

The fight against Boko Haram is a unanimous fight. It does not demand the use of one ethnic group against the other, or the use of one terrorist group against the other.

You cannot use terrorism to curb terrorism. Whether you call it Niger Delta militant group or Boko Haram, they are all terrorist groups.

After all, was it not Asari Dokubo and his men that ware moping sleep off out eyes a couple of years back. Was is it Dokubo and his gang that were raining hell in the Niger Delta, blowing up pipelines, kidnapping foreign investors and engineers years back, which led to a rapid decline in the daily count of crude oil per barrel. Oh, does Dokubo think we have forgotten? He will be thinking wrong if so.

In fact the only difference between Dokubo and Shakau is Amnesty. Were it not the Amnesty program of President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua, Dokubo and his men would have been in the creeks today.

If Dokubo feels he can challenge Boko Haram as a one-man-squad, fine. Let him join the Army, hang-on with the AK 47, Machine Gun or whichever weapon he is good at and go into Sambisa Forest.

Instead of coughing threats and tension into our ears and making us feel 2015 is a going to be a black year for Nigeria, let him stand up and do something. Let his enlist for recruitment and go to Cameroon, Chad or where ever and bring back our 234 missing pubescent girls. That is a priority to us as Nigerians and Africans and even the world.

EMMANUEL SHEBBS studied Political Science in University of Calabar.