Gov Amaechi has hidden agenda �Dokubo Asari

This is as chairman of the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Justice Kayode Eso (rtd) yesterday assured that another militant leader, Ateke Tom, would testify before the commission.

“Is Amaechi looking for peace? He has his own agenda. Amaechi is not ready for peace, this commission is to smear people, when he is looking for peace we will know,” Dokubo-Asari told the commission on Thursday.

He advised his governor not to embark on rubbish former Governor Peter Odili and others as the struggle was not against Odili, Ateke or any individual.

Dokubo-Asari declared that Amaechi was culpable for the violence in the state more than Odili as he was Speaker for eight years and the state resources were wasted and budgets not implemented to the letter and he did not do anything.

“Amachi cannot exonerate himself, he cannot absolve himself. I am also culpable because in the process of fighting I kill innocent people. “It is only the governor that can bring peace when his is genuine. Everything in Rivers State lies with Amaechi, if he wants peace, peace will come. If Amaechi is looking for genuine peace, peace will come within 48 hours.” “I do not lead a gang. I cannot lead a gang. I was well brought up. Some of these counsel here were my course mates and classmates. I am not a terrorist. I am an Ijaw nationalist Dokubo-Asari, he said.

Dokubo-Asari denied that he was a cultist or a gang leader saying “I am fighting for the cause of my people.”

He declared that Amaechi was not sincere about peace and reconciliation in the state as he fraternizes with one of the gang leaders in the state, Soboma George while trying to undermine another gang leader Ateke Tom.

Dokubo-Asari maintained that Amaechi publicly said he would not negotiate with gang leaders and criminal elements only to turn around and hobnob with them in the night.

“Amaechi is supporting one group against another. He is supporting Soboma George,” Dokubo-Asari claimed.

He claimed that the arms that were allegedly found in Ateke�s residence do not belong to the Okrika warlord rather there were planted by security agents to thwart a plan meeting between Senate President, David Mark and Ateke.

The former Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, President claimed that Mark was in the state to meet with Ateke but Amaechi was averse to the meeting rather the senate president was shown Ateke�s purported armoury.

Dokubo Asari explained that why Amaechi is after Ateke is because the governor believes that once Ateke is out of the way, former Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo would be out of the way.

He also accused the governor of attempts to divide the people of the state through the policies and programmes of his administration such as the planned relocation of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Npkolu, Port Harcourt and the creation of another city outside Port Harcourt which is sited in the governor�s local government area.

For peace and reconciliation to succeed in the state, Dokubo-Asari recommended that all former governors and political leaders in the state must be reconcile.

Dokubo-Asari the Niger Delta crisis is instigated from outside to give the impression that the region was not investor-friendly so that Lagos and Ogun states can profit from businesses that should be in the Delta.

He stated that it is not possible for Niger Delta people to surrender their guns as long as federal government security agents are still in the region.

Dokubo_Asari who exonerated Niger Delta people from oil bunkering said those involved in the illegal business are non-indigenes and the guns used in the region are gotten through communal efforts and from bunkering proceeds

On Tom, Justice Eso said that the militant leader assured him of appearing before the commission if proper security measures are put in place.

According to him, the leader of the militant outfit, Niger Delta vigilante force (NDVF) had declared of testifying in the TRC to clear the air on many atrocities credited to him and his group about the violence and destructions in Okrika communities and Rivers State at large.

Eso said he had a telephone conversation with Ateke Tom and he insisted that he would appear before the peace panel to clear some allegations against him by people and communities on the killings in the state.

He did not, however, said when the militant leader would testify before the commission in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Hear the retired judge, “Ateke had never said he would not testify before the commission and never did the state government said, it would arrest any of the militants or persons who testified before the panel”.