What I Did to Survive When Obasanjo Threw Me in Underground Cell’, Asari Dokubo Opens Up
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 1:22 PM
A prominent Ijaw figure, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has said when all hope seems lost, “a strange power” overwhelms him
Dokubo said this while revisiting his incarceration ordeal which happened more than 15 years ago, saying the situation toughened him
The activist said in the years when he was held in custody on the orders of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, he found immense confidence in the Holy Quran
Buguma, Rivers state – Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, an Ijaw activist, has said the Holy Qur’an was his companion while in prison custody.
During a Facebook Live on Monday, June 26, monitored by Legit.ng, the former separatist said he found solace in the Qur’an when ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo instigated his arrest during the former Nigerian leader’s reign.
Asari Dokubo revisited his ordeal in the hands of the DSS during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo, and how he survived.
Recall that Dokubo was arrested in September 2005 and subsequently detained for issuing a threat to bomb oil installations across the Niger Delta
The threats to attack oil wells and pipelines by the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) which he led, caused companies operating in the area to withdraw most of their personnel from the Niger Delta.
Due to the crisis this precipitated, then-Nigerian president, Obasanjo, called Dokubo and the leader of the defunct Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), Ateke Tom, to Abuja for peace talks which were in large part a failure.
After his refusal to align with the Obasanjo government and due to his public support for the self-determination of his native Ijaw people and independence for the Niger Delta, Dokubo was arrested and charged with treason by the federal government.
On June 14, 2007, he was released on bail as part of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s (now late) pledge to try and bring peace to the Niger Delta region.
Making a flashback to the incarceration, Dokubo said during his Facebook Live on Monday, June 26:
“When I was in prison, when Obasanjo buried me alive, because I stood up and stood by the side of our people, when he buried me alive underground, when it seems that all hope are lost, when Obasanjo asked people whether I have gone mad, whether I have gone mental, in that moment, in the solitary confinement, Allah touches me, a strange power comes over me