North ‘ll cause another Civil War – Asari

BY John Bulus

ABUJA—Former President of Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC, and leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Dokubo Asari, has said that those scheming to remove President Goodluck Jonathan from office were fanning the embers of war in Nigeria.

He also accused Northern leaders of creating the atmosphere of insecurity in the country.

Asari, who addressed newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, recalled that the Isa Kaita, who he said represented a collection of Northern oligarchy, had prior to 2011 general elections, declared that they will make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan should he eventually emerged as President, pointing out that incessant bombings and killings credited to the North-based Boko Haram was the manifestation of the threat by Kaita.

Asari also said the North will be the greatest losers should the war begin. He said: “On Boko Haram, the North will lose. We are just waiting; they will push us to an extent where we will tell Goodluck Jonathan that he is on his own. But what will happen will be one that will be unimaginable in the history of the world.

“We will cut them (the Northerners) off from the world. We are capable of doing that. There will be no food and they will pay dearly for their actions. This war will be no joke. There will be no army to prosecute the war for them. When the war starts, other ethnic groups like the Yoruba will tell the North ‘you are on your own.’

“We are saying that nothing must happen to Jonathan because if anything happens to him, the world will know. The arrogance of Boko Haram is un-Islamic. The type of bomb they are using is small. If we begin to throw bombs, nobody will stay in Abuja.

“We don’t manufacture bomb but we will buy them and dynamites. I started armed struggle in the Niger Delta. It is because of Goodluck Jonathan that we kept quiet.

“But soon, we will not be able to guarantee our patience any more. If Ijaw people should retaliate, every household in the North will cry. It is the North that needs peace more than us. Everybody must impress it on them that they should sheathe their swords and drop their arrogance.”

Asari said it was an insult on President Jonathan for him to be asked by Boko Haram to convert to Islam or resign his position. He warned that the Ijaw nation will retaliate should anything happen to Jonathan.

He urged President Jonathan to urgently convene a Sovereign National Conference, SNC, which he said was long overdue, to determine the future of Nigeria amidst the ethnic nationalities.