In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said despite the attacks by
oil militants in the Niger Delta and the ongoing insurgency by Boko
Haram in some parts of the north, Nigeria has not witnessed a clearer
and louder call to war than Asari-Dokubo’s senseless vituperation since
the country’s civil war ended in 1970.
It said Nigerians are waiting to see what the SSS, which recently
detained for many hours the APC’s Deputy National Secretary Nasir
El-Rufai over his warning against election rigging in 2015, will do now
that an ally of President Jonathan has threatened the very existence of
Nigeria, by saying he and his fellow militants would cripple the economy
of the country not only in the creeks but also in Nigeria’s territorial
waters.
”What on earth gave Asari-Dokubo the confidence to issue threats
against a whole nation? If he doesn’t care about elections and
democracy, how else could his hero, President Jonathan, have come to
power? Does he know the meaning of anarchy? Does he think anyone, no
matter how big, is more important than his country or bigger than its
constitution?
”When he said President Jonathan ‘must complete the mandatory
constitutionally-allowable two terms of eight years’ or the militants
will make Nigeria ungovernable, was he aware that even the North that
has become his favourite whipping boy did not complete its own eight
years before his kinsman became President?
”It is not Asari-Dokubo’s fault. When we warned against the handing
over of the nation’s maritime security to a company owned by an
ex-militant in 2012, many thought we were crying wolf where none
existed. But the threat by an ex-militant to ensure that no vessel will
be allowed to enter the nation’s territorial waters unless President
Jonathan is re-elected has shown the dangers inherent in such actions,”
APC said
The party wondered why President Jonathan, who said his ambition is
not worth anyone’s blood, has neither condemned nor call to order
his out-of-control kinsmen like Asari-Dokubo, who speak either on his
behalf or for his benefit.
It said Asari-Dokubo has overstretched his luck by even trying to
dictate to political parties to field only South-South candidates for
the presidency in 2015, wondering what gave him the audacity to make
such a careless statement.
”We in the APC will never be cowed by the senseless, emotional
outburst of a man whose sense of decency stretches the size of a coin.
We make bold to say that Nigeria will survive and thrive, whether or not
some people want it. We reiterate the truism that election is the
bedrock of democracy, and that anointing of candidates – as Asari-Dokubo
would want Nigeria’s political parties to do – is the very antithesis
of democracy,” the party said. It said the SSS must act immediately or
be damned.
”There is no better test of the fairness, non-partisanship and
professionalism of the SSS than this Asari-Dokubo’s threat to levy war
on his own country. If Asari-Dokubo is not above the laws of the land,
he must be hauled before the SSS, just like the service did to our
Deputy National Secretary, to explain his statement,” APC said.
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