NIGER Delta youths, particularly from the Ijaw extraction, brought Port Harcourt to a standstill for over four hours yesterday, as they came out in their thousands to welcome the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.
As early as 7.00am, Ijaw youths waving the blue, red and green Ijaw flag started arriving at the Airforce base, on Aba Road, Port Harcourt to receive Dokubo-Asari, who promised to work out modality to stop hostage-taking and banditry in the region.
The youths, numbering over eight thousand, though prevented from entering the airport by security operatives, besieged the New Olusegun Obasanjo Road for several hours, and thereby disrupting the free flow of traffic during the period.
Dokubo-Asari arrived at the Airforce base on board a chartered Associated Airline flight, accompanied by the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate and son of the Amayanabo of Kalabari, Prince Tonye Princewill and other prominent Ijaws at about 11.10am.
As soon as he alighted from the aircraft, thousands of his kinsmen burst into jubilation and besieged him, making it absolutely difficult for him to even walk to a Hummer Jeep that was to convey him out of the airport.
Addressing journalists, Dokubo-Asari, who said he was elated and humbled by the multitude that came out to accord him a warn reception, praised the masses for putting up with the protracted hardship in the land.
“I thank the people of the Niger Delta and all the oppressed persons, who have suffered for a long time and who have taken time to be here to welcome me. I feel humbled and elated by this singular act of support,” he said.
Dokubo-Asari, who wore a black dress embossed with the photograph of the Ijaw hero, Isaac Adaka-Boro, promised that he would collaborate with other stakeholders in the Niger Delta area to work out ways to stop all acts of hostage taking.
“We will try and work out ways to stop this act of criminality and banditry,” he pledged. “We are not going to be something we are not. We are fighting for justice. We should not do injustice to other people. We are fighting for justice. We cannot be seen to be doing injustice to other people.”
On the Niger Delta struggle, he noted that the people of the region had explicitly stated their demands and wishes in the Kaiama and Akalaka Declarations as well as the Ogoni Bill of Rights.
He iterated that the only feasible way to resolve the Niger Delta crisis was through the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference where the various ethnic nationalities in the country would determine the terms of participating in the Nigerian project.
On terms of his release, Dokubo-Asari said he was not aware of them since he was not in court the day his bail was granted.
The president of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Billy Harry, who was also at the airport, described the release of the militant leader as a big relief to the business community in the Niger Delta.
Harry said: “We are expecting that business will get back to normal. The resolution must be done with absolute carefulness.
“The youths of the Niger Delta have expressed their displeasure. What are they fighting for? They said the people are not participating in the oil sector. You cannot set up an NDDC that is controlled from Abuja. The Niger Delta should be given priority.”
An Ijaw scholar, Dr. Youpele Banigo, said the historic conjuncture of the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from the Niger Delta, the release of a Master Plan by the NDDC, and the release of Dokubo-Asari “are serious invitation to the Federal Government, and all stakeholders to critically and comprehensively work towards peace and development in the Niger Delta region, and the country.”
Shortly after leaving the airport, Dokubo-Asari proceeded to the residence of the former Minister for Culture and Tourism, Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas where he addressed prominent Ijaw leaders.
After narrating his ordeal to them, he demanded that the Federal Government should reserve the position of Minister of Energy and Power to the people of the Niger Delta.
A convoy of over 500 cars and thousands of motorbikes later escorted him to his native Buguma in Asari Toru local government area of Rivers State.