Leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahid Asari Dokubo Asari at the weekend, said kidnapping for ransom, killings and other vices were never part of the Niger Delta struggle.
He spoke of plans by representatives of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and Ijaw leaders to appraise the struggle and come out with a categorical statement on the issue of criminality.
Dokubo admitted that most of the youths crusading for the emancipation of the Niger Delta region have veered off from the struggle by engaging in acts of criminalities.
His words: “The struggle is not criminality; the struggle is not gangsterism; the struggle is not cultism. We initiated this struggle, and anybody who wants to join us should follow our back. Whoever refuses to follow our back, we say you are on your own. You are not with us”.
Dokubo, who spoke at the Owu Aru Sun Festival (held once every 20 years) in Buguma, Asari Toru council area of Rivers State, said as a title holder in the Kalabari Kingdom, he would remain a Kalabari man and continue to protect the cultural heritage of the people.
Maintaining that such customs were devoid of violence and criminalities, Dokubo added that the Niger Delta people can use culture to fight their cause, because culture was a very powerful instrument.
He said: “They are kidnapping, carrying out abductions and unnecessary killing of the people. This is not part of our culture. Anybody who does that is not a Kalabari man.
“For you to be a good Kalabari man, you have to obey the laws and tradition of the people of Kalabari. The way of lives of Kalabari people has nothing to do with religion.
“I am a Muslim. Muslim celebration or Christian celebration does not come into this issue. I might not share the same religion with my father, but the culture remains the sublime.
“All religions, whether it is Christianity or Islam must adapt and conform to the ways and lives of the people. If a people forget their culture, they are no longer a people.”
“I have traveled all over the world. I have been to about 39 countries. I have never seen any culture that is as rich as this. As a Kalabari man, if I cease to hold on to my culture, I cease to be an Ijaw man, and I am nobody”.
Asari said he succeeded his father to occupy his present title, which he noted has lasted for 200 years, having being founded in 1782 by one Chief Harry Breed.
Feb82009