Dokubo threatens FG over ‘expired’ N243bn

Sylvester Idowu, Warri - 05.02.2008

Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, said in Warri, Delta State, on Monday that the people of the Niger Delta would resist the decision of the Federal Government not to release N243 billion that was meant for the development of the region.

President Umaru Yar’Adua had recently said the money that was supposed to have been given to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) during the last administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo had ‘expired.’

But Dokubo-Asari insisted that the money must be returned for the development of the region to allow peace to reign in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole.

Speaking when he made a sudden appearance at the opening of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) workshop for senior officials of the commission in Warri, Dokubo-Asari insisted that the money must be returned to the region.

“President Umaru Yar’Adua and the National Assembly said our N243 billion has expired. How can our N243 billion expire when our oil has not expired? he queried amid ovation from the participants at the workshop.

“If our money has expired, let them give us our expired money so that we can keep it in our homes. We will resist this rape on our land. Go to the Arab countries and see development there. Why is ours so different?”

Alhaji Dokubo-Asari tasked governors of the Niger Delta to take note of the new twist and told the Federal Government that the people of the region would not fold their arms and allow their money to be taken away just like that.