Nigerian oil militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari lived up to his fiery reputation as he angrily appeared in the Federal High Court, Abuja for what should have been the start of his treason trial.
He acted like the accuser rather than the accused and repeated the same words that got him into trouble in the first place.
“This democracy is not a democracy,” he bellowed as a reporter thrust a microphone in his face.
“This dictatorship shall be brought down and our struggle shall certainly end in victory over this evil regime.”
And for the next quarter of an hour, he had the entire court listening to his angry tirade in which he rained abuse on the Nigerian justice system.
“We must rise up: in the creeks; on the streets; in the village squares; in our homes. We must go down on our knees and pray against this evil system.
“For six months, I was kept in a 20-feet underground cell against court orders and someone tells me this is a democracy,” he said, working himself into tears.
Violence
Mr Asari was arrested in September 2005 after telling a local newspaper he would topple the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The government no doubt hoped that the NDVF would disappear without its fiery leader but instead the wave of violent attacks on oil installations has intensified, albeit under a new name – Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend).
And now the militants – largely ethnic Ijaws like Mr Asari – have a new demand to add to that of local control of the Delta’s oil wealth – the release of their leader.
In court, his first wife, Mujahidat Dokubo-Asari tried to talk him into stopping the tirade, but he shouted her down, telling her “this fight is not about you”.
Members of his Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) helped him to change from a white T-shirt into a black one that bore that the picture of Isaac Adaka Boro, the Niger Delta’s first rebel.
Sporting an overgrown beard, he also donned a black woolly hat with an Arabic inscription and a sword on it.
The complete picture was reminiscent of Mr Asari’s self-given name of Mujahid after the mujahideen – or holy warriors – of Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Mr Asari only suspended his tirade to receive his one-year-old daughter whom he had not seen for the past six months.
Trial judge Justice Peter Olayiwola, who seemed amused by Mr Asari’s outburst, was rudely told by the angry militant that the smile playing on his face could soon turn to tears.
“What sort of justice is this?” Mr Asari angrily asked the trial judge.
“Is this the justice of Satan? You are laughing now, when it happens, your family will cry.
“I am just restraining myself. When I stop restraining myself, your laughter will turn to crying.”
Barred
When Justice Olayiwola ordered that he be returned to his police cell until the next court date of 5 March, Mr Asari flared up again, saying he was not going to leave the court room.
Riot policemen eventually removed him from the court room and led him to a waiting minibus that was crammed with gun-toting security operatives.
Displeased with Mr Asari’s behaviour since the case began, the prosecution requested that the accused be barred from future court appearances.
But the defence argued that they needed to time to file a counter-motion challenging the prosecution’s application.
The court says it will hear the motion and the counter-motion next month, further pushing back the date when the real trial gets underway.
There have been rumours that a deal to release him could be in the offing – a move by the government to calm the region which has seen violence spiral almost out of control.
But as he got back into the police van he led his supporters in the militant song – a show, for now, of defiance.