Newly released Nigerian militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari hopes to reunite splintered armed groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta around his radical agenda for independence, he told Reuters on Friday.
In an interview hours after his release on bail, Asari distanced himself from a surge in hostage-taking in the swamps of southern Nigeria but said he was not opposed to disrupting the oil industry in Africa’s top producer.
Asari said militant groups in the region were suffering from a lack of visible leadership.
“They are all faceless. That is the problem because there is no person to deal with. We are going to call a meeting of all the groups. Those who are willing to come, we are going to do something about it,” he said.
Asari, the former leader of the rebel Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force which laid down arms in late 2004, was freed on bail on Thursday after 20 months in jail on treason charges.
His release, granted on condition he not participate in any political activity, was a key demand of groups whose attacks and abductions have cut oil output by a quarter and driven away thousands of foreign workers.
“I am totally against kidnapping, but I am not against anything that affects the oil exploration and exploitation,” Asari said. “The reason is because as a people we have the right to the ownership of our resources.”
Militants have hinted that Asari’s release could open the way for talks with the government of newly inaugurated President Umaru Yar’Adua and allow foreign multinationals to resume normal operations in the world’s eighth largest oil exporter.
HOSTAGES
Since Yar’Adua’s inauguration on May 29, militant groups have freed 19 hostages as a sign of their willingness to give him a chance to fulfil his promise of urgent action to address the region’s grievances of poverty and neglect.
But the situation in the region was still volatile on Friday. Two Lebanese and two Indian construction workers were kidnapped in Delta state, a military spokesman said, bringing to about 24 the total number of hostages in captivity.
Asari said any return to normalcy would take time.
“One cannot say my release will immediately revert it back to normal. It will take a much longer time because criminal elements have got themselves involved in this trade of hostage taking, extortion and so on,” he said.
“If there is good will on the side of the government I think it will take from one to six months or a year for things to return to normal,” he added.
Asari said the militant movement in the delta had become splintered since his detention, and the goals of the different groups were diverse.
“The issues we are demanding are very different. Others are demanding resource control, we are demanding self determination,” he said.
Asari, a Muslim convert, said he would work with Yar’Adua’s government if it showed sincerity. Like Asari, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is from the Ijaw ethnic group which predominates in the delta.
“I am happy that an Ijaw man is the vice president and I will work with him in the best way I can,” Asari said, adding that a meeting he held with Jonathan on Friday was private.