Don’t threaten Danjuma, ACF warns Tompolo, Dokubo

The northern socio-political organisation, Arewa
Consultative Forum, has warned Niger Delta ex-
militants not to threaten a former Chief of Army
Staff, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.).
The northern group said neither Danjuma nor any
citizen of the country for that matter should be
threatened with attacks by the ex-militants, who
have been threatening fire and brimstone should
President Goodluck Jonathan loses the February
14 presidential poll.
The ex-militants had threatened to attack
Danjuma’s business interest in the Niger Delta for
daring to ask that security agencies should arrest
leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force,
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari;and other ex-militants.
Dokubo-Asari, Victor Ben Ebikabowei a.k.a Boy
Loaf; Government Ekpudomenowei, a.k.a Tompolo
and other militants had, during a meeting at the
Bayelse State Government House, vowed to
unleash violence on Nigerians if Jonathan failed in
his re-election bid.
They said any attempt to unseat the President
would be seen as a direct affront to the Ijaw
nation.
The ACF said it viewed the threat by the ex-
militants as not only a direct affront on Danjuma
but on the President Goodluck Jonathan-led
Federal Government.
National Publicity Secretary of the ACF,
Muhammadu Ibrahim, in a statement in Kaduna on
Monday, said, “ACF and indeed all Nigerians hold
Gen T.Y. Danjuma, former Chief of Army Staff and
Defence Minister in high esteem, as a revered
patriot, elder statesman and a philanthropist of
repute who fought for the unity of Nigeria and has
continued to play this fatherly role even in his old
age.
“ACF will therefore not accept any threat to his
person or business assets or to any law-abiding
citizen by any group or individuals in the name of
militancy.”
The northern body therefore asked security
operatives to take urgent steps to avert what it
described as “ugly consequences” of war threats
by the ex-militants.
Danjuma had penultimate Wednesday asked the
Federal Government to as a matter of urgency
arrest the Niger Delta ex-militants who threatened
war in the country if Nigerians failed to re-elect
Jonathan.
Danjuma spoke at the inauguration of Kwakwasiya
City in Kano.
He had said, “You should arrest Dokubo-Asari,
Tompolo, Boyloaf and other Niger Delta militants
for making reckless statements, which in any way
does not mean keeping Nigeria as one entity and
creating war situation.
“Those were reckless statements coming from
irresponsible individuals; they should be
condemned and be arrested immediately.”
Neither President Jonathan nor the Federal
Government has reacted to the threat by the
former militants.
The ACF warned that nothing must tamper with the
business empire of Danjuma because there was
nothing wrong with his call for the arrest of ex-
militants that had been threatening the peace of the
entire country.
The ACF reminded the ex-militants that the
President was not elected by Nigerians in 2011
based on threat or intimidation from any section of
the country.
It stressed, “ACF wishes to remind the Niger Delta
militants that President Jonathan did not ascend to
his present position through threats and
intimidation, but rather through democratic means
of canvassing for votes without any form of
molestation throughout the length and breadth of
Nigeria in 2011.
“The same process the President and other
candidates vying for the office shall go through to
emerge as Nigeria’s President in 2015 and not
through intimidation, threats and ultimatum.
“ACF therefore views such threats and intimidation
by the ex-militants as an affront not only to Gen.
Danjuma but an attack on a democratically elected
Federal Government of Nigeria, over which
President Jonathan presides.
“It is also an open challenge to the nation’s
security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police
Force, the Department of State Security and even
the Nigerian military that are responsible for
maintaining law and order and any form of internal
and external aggression against Nigeria.
“ACF hereby calls upon the Federal Government to
urgently take necessary steps and contain this
emerging threat to national security by Niger Delta
ex- militants to avert any ugly consequences.”