Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, petitioned world leaders over failure by the Federal Government to arrest erstwhile Niger Delta militant leader and former agitator, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, despite alleged threat to the Nigerian state and people.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, warned that the President Bola Tinubu government is creating a monster out of Asari-Dokubo, who dared the military to arrest him and threatened that he would reduce Nigeria’s oil production to zero.
The petition was addressed to the European Union (EU), President of the United States of America, the French President, the British Prime Minister, the German Chancellor and other world leaders.
HURIWA, in the petition, called for their urgent high level intervention in getting President Tinubu to order the arrest of Asari-Dokubo for alleged dangerous hate speech and threat to the Igbo ethnic tribe of Nigeria.
The group accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of being afraid of Asari-Dokubo and failing to arrest him despite the ex-agitator’s threat to destroy the country if arrested for unlawful possession of assault rifles and threat to lives and property of the Igbo people in the country.
Recall that HURIWA previously issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Federal Government to arrest Asari-Dokubo over his suspected link to violent ‘unknown gunmen’ in the South East or risk unprecedented protests in the country.
Asari-Dokubo, who visited Tinubu last month, had in a viral video brandished multiple AK-47 rifles and threatened to kill Igbos because they supported Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll against the ex-militant’s preferred candidate in the person of Tinubu, the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The petition has become imperative because despite calls from several quarters, particularly non governmental organisations and prominent civil rights activists, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pointedly ignored these calls.
“President Tinubu must stop treating threats and individuals that constitute grave threats to national security with kid’s gloves. The failure of all security forces to take in Asari Dokubo, who reportedly displayed military grade weapons and threaten Igbos is a serious dereliction of duty.
“HURIWA most passionately appeals to the European Union and the other copied world leaders, to urgently bring pressure to bear on Nigeria’s President to order immediate arrest, investigation and prosecution of Asari-Dokubo. This is the only way to bring about peace and tranquility in the South East and Nigeria as a whole,” HURIWA added.
