MILITANT THREATENS RETIRED GENERAL

Niger Delta militant, Victor Ben Ebikabowei also known as Boyloaf has threatened to attack the assets of Theophilus Danjuma, a retired General, located in the Niger Delta, for demanding the immediate arrest of some ex-militant who threatened to wage war against the country if President Goodluck Jonathan is not re-elected.

In a statement emailed to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Ebikabowei listed the location of some of Mr. Danguma’s assets in the region and promised to attack them if the retired General does not “retrace his steps” and apologise to the former militants and the people of the Niger Delta.
“I have elected to expose Retired General T.Y Danjuma for whom he is with this reply and advise him to apologize not only to myself, but to my brothers as well, and the entire well meaning and oppressed people of the Niger Delta,” Mr Ebokabowei said in the highly charged statement.
On Wednesday, during the commissioning of the multibillion naira Kwakwasiya city, one of the three mega cities built by the administration of Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso, Mr Danjuma said the threat by the ex-militants is inimical to national unity and capable of plunging the country in war.
“You should arrest Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boylop 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,” he said.
Last Saturday, after a meeting at the Bayelsa State Government House, the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari; Victor Ben Ebikabowei, aka, Boy Loaf; Government Ekpudomenowei, aka, Tompolo; and other militants threatened to unleash violence on the country and take back Niger Delta oil should the president lose the election. They also said any attempt to dethrone Mr. Jonathan would be seen as a direct attack on the Ijaw nation.
“For every Goliath, God created a David. For every Pharoah, there is a Moses. “We are going to war. Everyone of you should go and fortify yourself,” said Mr Dokubo-Asari at the meeting.
In the statement, Mr Ebokabowei described Mr Danjuma’s demand for their immediate arrest as “reckless and provocative.”
He wondered why Mr Danjuma did not condemn the attack on the convoy of the president’s convoy in some northern states but quick to call for their arrest.
He said Mr Danjuma silence was born out of his tacit support for the attack on the president and fits into plan of “northern hegemonic establishment” to unseat President Jonathan, who is an Ijaw from the Niger Delta, by whatever means like he allegedly did in 1966.
“What are the issues that elicited Retired General TY Danjuma reckless and provocative call? When the motor convoy of the symbol of our collective National Sovereignty, President Goodluck Jonathan, was attacked in Northern Cities of Jos, Katisina and Bauchi, by hegemonic Northern establishment and their hired elements, Retired General T.Y Danjuma did not grant any interview to condemn the act, he lost his voice because he is in tacit support of such manoeuvres’ to disgrace and remove President Goodluck Jonathan from office using whatever means possible as he did in Ibadan, capital of western Nigeria in 1966 when he brutally murdered Head of State, General J.T.U Aguiyi Ironsi and Governor of Western Region, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi and got them effectively out of office,” he said.
He added that rather than the altruistic need for national unity; Mr Danjuma call for the arrest of the ex-militants is planked on greed and the continued exploitation of the sweet crude in the Niger Delta.
“Nigerians should not be deceived; Retired General TY Danjuma is not moved to intervene in national issues for altruistic reasons, but only by greed and his thirst for Niger Delta’s sweet crude is insatiable. When Danjuma talks of unity, he really means more crude and securing the oil fields he already controls directly and indirectly.”
Describing Mr Danjuma’s role in the country’s history as “ignoble and full of criminal manipulations”, Mr Ebokabowei said Mr Danjuma should instead be arrested for murder, illegal printing and smuggling of the country’s currency and gun running.
“General TY Danjuma role in Nigeria’s history has been ignoble and full of criminal manipulations, the billions of dollars that he has made in his life time is illegitimate and stained with blood.
“If previous governments in Nigeria have not been compromised, General Danjuma would have been arrested and successfully persecuted for gun running and illegal printing and importation of Nigeria’s currency in the 1980’s up to the 90’s. Nigerians are knowledgeable of these matters, so my best advice for the famed General is to keep quiet and hide his head in shame or else he will be disgraced. Murder is a very heinous crime, since it is not statue barred, the government may do well by arresting Retired General TY Danjuma, for the murder of General J.T.U Aguiyi Ironsi and Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi.”
He said the people of the Niger Delta are not happy with Mr Danjuma for allegedly abandoning the communities where his oil businesses are located and using the money he makes to develop his native Taraba State and home state of his wife, Edo.
“The Niger Delta people are not happy with him, there is no joy where he is concerned, the communities where his oil exploration businesses are located in the Niger Delta are in a state of zero development comparable to the value of resource exploited in their community by TY Danjuma and Co., no portable water, electricity, primary school, health care centers , the indigenes are all living in squalor, yet his so called philanthropic gestures are directed and impacted majorly to Taraba State and a hand full of Northern States and minimally to Edo State in the South because of his wife’s ancestry. What an effrontery! Is this the kind of man that will now speak about the unity of Nigeria? For General TY Danjuma and his likes the unity of Nigeria centers on the control of the oil resources in the Niger Delta.”
He warned that any attempt to arrest any of the former militants would attract “grave and disproportional” consequences.
“Our eyes are now open, we are watching. Any attempt to cause any inconvenience by way of arrest or intimidation of any Niger Delta Leader will be met will stiff resistance and the consequences will be grave and disproportional. This is a promise and not a threat,” he said.