Asari Dokubo, former Niger Delta militant leader, has called on indigines from the South-South and South-East to return home following threats from Coalition of Northern Groups, asking the herdsmen in South-South to also leave the zone.
The former Militant leader stated this while reacting to the comments made by the Coalition of Northern Groups and the Northern Elders Forum, NEF.
Recall that on Wednesday July 17th members of the Northern Elders Forum and the Coalition of the Northern Groups asked Fulani herdsmen to leave the Southern part of Nigeria to the North where their safety can be guaranteed. President Buhari has since asked the herdsmen to ignore the order.
Speaking during a meeting with leaders of Niger Delta states, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday July 19th, Asari said the South will assist the Northerners to leave its region. He called on all Southerners to return home immediately as well.
“What has brought us here today is the dark cloud that is gathering. In 1967, we did not ask for war, war was imposed on us and millions of our people were killed. Our properties were destroyed and so many people until today are carrying the scars of that imposed war.
“Our people have not gone to Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno to ask that land be forcefully given to us or that our resources should be used to give us properties in the north. But northern organizations and northern individuals have come up to say we must surrender our land to them to create colonies on our land. Are you going to allow that?
We will not surrender one grain of sand of our sacred land to anybody. We will stand on our land and wait for you to come and carry out your threat and inshallah by the grace of God we will defeat you. We have heard that you have called your people to come back home. They should all go, we will assist them to leave because this is what we have been looking for all along.
We call on our people, Igbo, Ibibio, Ikwerre, Ijaw return back home. If anything happens to you and these coward spines on you, you would have yourself to blame. We would not continue to risk our integrity and our pride because of you, return home now. We extend a hand of fellowship to our brothers in the middle belt who are suffering the same pain and deprivation as we do. We are with you in your hours of grief and pain and we will stand with you to the end.
“To our Yoruba brothers in Afenifere, and the leader of Afenifere, whose daughter has been gruesomely murdered by these Gambari invaders, we condole with you but this is the price we have to pay to wake up.”
