Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday, threatened to mobilise nationwide protests in all the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja if the Federal Government fails to arrest prominent Niger Delta leader and former agitator, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, for unlawful possession of assault rifles and threat to the lives and property of Igbo people in the country.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the administration of President Bola Tinubu has 72 hours to put Asari Dokubo behind bars or risk unprecedented protests that would reverberate all over the country.

The group said Asari Dokubo must be arrested by the Department of State Services or any other relevant security agency over his suspected link to the violent phenomenon of ‘unknown gunmen’ in the South-East.

Earlier in June 2023, Asari Dokubo made startling revelations when he visited President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa in Abuja. The ex-militant said: “I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers. And in Abuja today, you are travelling to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.”

Also, in a viral video, Asari Dokubo brandished multiple AK-47 rifles and threatened to kill Igbos because they supported Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll against the ex-militant’s preferred candidate in the person of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

Asari Dokubo, in broad daylight, brandished AK-47 rifles as seen in the viral video which has been verified as authentic by media houses, adding that the ex-militant should be immediately picked for gunrunning and threatening to kill the Igbo people.

To show his deep-seated hate for the Igbo people, Asari Dokubo publicly requested that the President should not release leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

HURIWA's Onwubiko said: “The Nigerian Government must arrest Asari Dokubo now or the Federal Government is indirectly tasking Igbo youths, lovers of Igbo and all groups that support the well-being of the Igbo people to begin peaceful protests simultaneously.

“HURIWA is giving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu 72 working hours to order the arrest and investigation of Asari Dokubo over his suspected link to the violent phenomenon of unknown gunmen in the South-East or HURIWA will call our her members for a protest in Abuja next week over it.

“Illegality must not be allowed to continue whilst the security agencies pretend not to know or willfully not take action. Asari Dokubo must be arrest. Nigeria is not a Banana Republic.”

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