Tension as Dokubo embraces MASSOB, condemns Amnesty

Niger Delta ex-militant leader, Asari Dokubo has assured hope for the members of MASSOB and his group – the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force- saying they are partners in progress who are moving in the same direction to arrive at a common destination as one people and nation.
has condemned the amnesty granted to the ex-Niger Delta militants by the late president, Umaru Yar’adua.
According to him, this was a bribe to allow oil flow from the Niger Delta region to the North. He said that was the reason he rejected the offer.
“It only represented the views of the rest of the country. Let us be allowed to have a referendum.
We have the right to hold a referendum on where we want to go,” he argued.
Dokubo, who gave the clarification  in Owerri, Imo State, also faulted the national conference organised by the Federal Government, insisting that the exercise did not represent the views of the Niger Delta region that is yearning for a referendum.
He equally faulted the last general elections in the country, decried the pace of growth and development of the nation over the years, noting that there should be massive infrastructural provision to stimulate the economy with conscious and unpolluted efforts to bring about industrial growth and job creation.
The amnesty programme put up by Late  President Umaru musa Yar' Adua to douse the tension and restiveness of the Niger Delta militants will end in December 2015.
However, President Muhammadu Buhari has promised not to do anything in the contrary, adding that the nation needs peace now more than ever to navigate the country out of its murky waters.