YOUTH groups in Nigeria yesterday called for the unconditional release of detained leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Forces, Asari Dokubo who is currently under the custody of the Federal government for treasonable offences.
The groups include the Ijaw Youth Council, Niger Delta People Salvation Front (NDPSF), the Oodua Republic Front and the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum.
Speaking to newsmen yesterday in Lagos, Dokubo’s spokesman and member of the NDPSF, Onengya Erekosima said that the unconditional release of Dokubo would bring lasting peace to the Niger Delta region.
Describing Dokubo’s arrest and continued incarceration as unjust, Erokosima, who said he was speaking the mind of the Niger Delta militants, said that only unconditional release of Dokubo would guarantee the safety and release of the foreign hostages currently held by the militants.
“The issue of kidnapping and other violence will stop because he has absolute control over the youth of the Niger Delta,” he said.
Erokosima also called on the international community, civil society and all Nigerians to prevail on the federal government to effect immediate release of Dokubo before it would be too late.
In the same vein, president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Emmanuel Jonson, who spoke on telephone, said that the continued detention of Dokubo has made peace in the area impossible.