Militants in the Niger Delta area on Tuesday took a swipe at President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying they would not join Ijaw elders in begging him to release its leader, Muhajeed Dokubo-Asari, who has been in detention for almost a year.
They were reacting to Obasanjo�s statement that there would be no reprieve for Dokubo-Asari.
Operating under the aegis of the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), they said this in a statement against the backdrop of Monday�s parley between Obasanjo and Ijaw leaders in Abuja, an effort which reportedly failed to secure Dokubo-Asari�s release.
Consequently, the militants said it had resolved to remove the sanctions placed on hostage taking and keeping of whatever sort in the Ijaw and Niger Delta areas following pleas by Ijaw elders.
The militants had last week pronounced an end to hostage-taking in the region just few days before Dokubo-Asari was to appear in Court in Abuja to defend treason charges preferred against him.
“Let us state in very clear terms that we will never be party to any attempt to beg Obasanjo for the release of Dokubo-Asari, the flag bearer and leading light of the Ijaw and Niger Delta struggle,” the militants said in a statement posted online by its spokesperson, Cynthia Whyte.
According to them, the country�s leaders have no moral rights to condemn militant groups in the region for being lawless as the on-going fight between Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, also shows lawlessness within the presidency.
“While they condemn us for being lawless, they have continued to abuse judicial verdicts and have turned the corridors of power into a jest theatre of a fighting President and Vice President,” the militants added.
They said Obasanjo�s posture showed that only the act of violence can resolve the problems in the Niger Delta and vowed to lay down their lives for the struggle.
The militants therefore, urged all the youths in the region to identify with the new consciousness while castigating the Ijaw elders for giving Obasanjo the undue courage to undermine the collective will of the Niger Delta people.