The arrest, last week Tuesday, of ex-Niger Delta militant leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, by the government of neighbouring Republic of Benin was triggered by an information that he is a leader of the Boko Haram terrorist Islamic sect, it has been disclosed.

Dokubo himself made the disclosure Friday night while speaking with newsmen on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. He, however, dismissed the allegation as false and the handiwork of unnamed people opposed to the second term ambition of his Ijaw kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan. Dokubo, founder and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), is a radical Muslim with extremist views. He was born a Christian but converted during his university course which he later abandoned for Ijaw nationalist activism.

Dokubo, who regained his freedom on Thursday, also dismissed reports that he was brought home in a presidential jet even as he described his arrest and detention as a blessing in disguise. Excerpts:

On his ordeal

Crisis is normal, it can also happen here in Nigeria, it can happen anywhere in the world. The people and government of Republic of Benin have no problem with me. But if people alleged that somebody is a leader of Boko Haram, the government of that country will investigate the person.

The allegation has much to do with 2015 because when you read comments on social media, you find out that anybody who is against President Goodluck Jonathan, will want to vilify me and make sure I die before 2015.

But they are not going to succeed. I am not going to die. I will be present in 2015, and I will do what I am going to do to ensure that Jonathan wins in 2015. There is nothing they can do about it. This is their last fight and it is so unfortunate that the way they are going with show how immature they are.

On how he returned home

I just arrived from Cotonou. I drove in my car from Cotonou to Lagos airport where I boarded a flight to Abuja. The report is not true. No presidential jet was sent to me.

I do business in Cotonou, and I have been living in Cotonou since 2008. Politically, people who are in Nigeria are trying to fabricate lies, which are not verifiable, and send it to Republic of Benin government. So I was taken for interrogation and they found that the allegations were false, and I was promptly released with over 20 of my staff who were also taken in.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s role in his release

It is not just only President Jonathan that intervened, Nigerians generally intervened. The number of people that came into Cotonou the day I was taken in, and the following day, were over 1,000.

Arrest as a blessing in disguise

I have met with the top and powerful people in Republic of Benin. Since I went to that country, I have never had any reason to meet with their government officials, but this crisis has made it possible for me to meet with all top government functionaries of the Republic of Benin. The crisis has raised my profile in that country.

•Photo shows Dokubo.

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