Asari-Dokubo Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has launched a blistering attack on the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for blaming the crisis in the Niger Delta on the leaders of the region.

Asari-Dokubo, who said the ACF should go to hell, added that the recent statements credited to the group concerning the instability in the Niger Delta region, were provocative.
The ACF had recently blamed the leaders of the region for the increasing wave of militancy in the region, alleging that they had squandered the money allocated to the region, leaving their people in abject poverty.

But Asari-Dokubo, in an interview with Daily Sun, strongly condemned the ACF statement, arguing that the group’s comments were an evidence of its arrogance.
According to him, the ACF and people of the Northern region are parasites, who lived on the money derived from the crude oil of the Niger Delta.

Hear him: “It is always sick people that make such statements ACF made. It is people who are so arrogant that talk like that. They are all parasites.
“Which moneys are they talking about that have come to the region? It is our money and not theirs. Did we share out of the money they made from the groundnut pyramids? It is an insult on our people. They should not dare us.”

He said the General Ibrahim Haruna – led ACF could not decide for the people of the region the strategies to adopt in the agitation for their rights.
“Nothing would stop us until we control our resources. Most of these Northern people think they are gods. They are flesh and we are flesh. They have blood and we have blood. They should not try us, because we are waiting for them. They are stealing our oil and they are still talking. How many of Niger Delta people have oil blocks? How many Niger Delta people have licences to lift oil? How many Niger Delta people have oil concessions. They just open their mouth and talk anyhow,” the NDPVF leader said.

On the proposed Niger Delta summit, Asari-Dokubo foreclosed the participation of key Niger Delta leaders, adding that youths of the region had explored the option of dialogue in the past, but the Federal Government turned deaf to reason.
He contended that the posture of President Umar Yar’Adua on the development of the Niger Delta was deceptive and capable of frustrating the peace process in the region.

“We are not going to the Niger Delta summit. Whether Gambari is there or not we are not participating in the summit, because it would not achieve anything. What other way do they want us to resolve the problem of the region? When we wanted dialogue, they did not listen. We would continue to agitate. We have not even started.
“I can tell you that President Yar’Adua is not sincere about the Niger Delta problem. They are deceiving him to militarize the region. If he is sincere, peace is what he can achieve with the snap of the finger.”