Asari Dokubo has said that Ijaw Nation elders cannot guarantee the reaction of Ijaw youth if the Rivers State House of Assembly carries out their threat of impeaching Governor Siminalayi Fubara. The former Niger Delta agitator also criticised the Supreme Court’s ruling on the state, calling on President Bola Tinubu to address the concerns of Rivers people.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Morning Brief programme yesterday, the traditional ruler said if Ijaw people are threatened, they have the right to defend their rights and interests. He said: “I don’t listen to Nyesom Wike because I know him. I hardly comment on what he says because he has never been reasonable.
I feel sad that the political system threw up characters like this and they became colossus, big and giant. “What I’m trying to say is that whatever he says about Ijaw people is okay for us because some Ijaw people were with him and celebrating after he said all that.
“The important thing is that I jaw owns the land that contains the resources and if Ijaw people are threatened, they have the right to defend themselves and we have the right to defend our interest. “So, whatever anybody says that is the business of that person.
Ijaws will defend their right, interest and they must protect their lives so that they will survive. Our forefathers handed this legacy to us and we are going to hand over this same legacy to our children. “It is not Nyesom Wike who will tell Ijaw people how we are going to behave and what we are going to do.
He is not qualified at all to tell what to do. If a pipeline passes in our place and somebody threatens us and takes away our livelihood and we decide that this pipeline we don’t want on our land, Nyesom Wike cannot stop it and nobody can stop it.
\I’m saying openly that nobody can stop Ijaw people from doing what we want to do. “I don’t think an Ijaw man will stand against the collective interest and survival of Ijaw people.
I know Ijaw people because they are the easiest people to mobilise and that is why you are seeing Ijaws demonstrating in Abuja, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and everywhere. Ijaws are rising.
“The flame is sparking and it is better to handle it now. The anger within Ijaw people over the statement the minister made. Even before we make a decision, some Ijaw people can decide to act on their own and that is the most dangerous.”
On the issue of the plan to impeach the governor, he said let them try since they have the number. This is how it started in the old Westerner Region and as somebody close to President Bola Tinubu, who has so much love for him, I have been crying out. “I have been calling on President Bola Tinubu that this Goliath that you have created in Rivers State would be brought down by the people of Rivers State.
“And if the Goliath is brought down, the consequences of it would be farreaching. That is why I’m calling on President Bola Tinubu because the ball is in his court and it is a matter of utmost urgency.
“That he, President Bola Tinubu, my friend before should be able to handle this matter and resolve it. And let there be No Victor No Vanquished.”
