A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday urged the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately arrest prominent Niger Delta militant leader and a former agitator, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, for unlawful possession of assault rifles and threat to the lives and property in the country.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it was hypocrisy of the highest order for the secret Police, the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force to pretend not to see a viral video of Asari Dokubo brandishing multiple AK-47 rifles and threatening 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 Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

The group said 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.

Asari Dokubo, who recently met the President Bola Tinubu on Friday at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, had also said the President should not release leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a betrayal of his morbid hatred for Ndigbo.

“The mortal hatred of Asari Dokubo against the people of the South-East and Nnamdi Kanu is apparent for all to see. The latest evidence in his despicable action is that of a viral video where he boldly threatened to kill Igbos, using his illegally acquired AK-47 rifles which he also brandished in the video out there.

“The security agencies and their new bosses should set to work immediately and arrest the ex-militant for instigating his men in the creeks to kill and abduct Igbos. Asari Dokubo needs to be investigated to ascertain if he is the brain behind the so-called unknown gunmen phenomenon in the South-East because he recently also confirmed that Muhammadu Buhari gave him a military contract as head of a mercenary group to wipe out armed bandits.

“Dokubo and his mercenary group threaten Nigeria's sovereignty like the Wagner group did in Russia. Dokubo must be disarmed immediately. His recent viral video confession about how Igbos are dying goes a long way to compel us to advocate his immediate arrest,” Onwubiko stated.