Security operatives last night arrested leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Mujahid Dokubo-Asari at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
He was arrested on his arrival from Germany where he went for medical check-up, his lawyer Festus Keyamo told The Nation.
Keyamo said men of the State Security Service (SSS) swooped on Dokubo-Asari as he alighted from an Alitalia aircraft at about 8:00 p.m., seized his passport and took him to their office at the airport.
He said Dokubo-Asari was able to phone him before he was later taken away to an unknown destination.
Keyamo said his client’s arrest showed that the planned amnesty from repentant militants “is a trap”.
“It is a trap to make mass arrests”, he said, adding: “It shows the insincerity on the part of government.”
He recalled that Dokubo-Asari was arrested in a similar manner and tried in 2005 after he was tricked to lay down his arms.
“Nothing has change. The so-called peace process is a fluke,” Keyamo said.
NDPVF spokesman Rex Anighoro gave the government 48 hours to release Dokubo-Asari.