By Balogun Kamilu Lekan
Biography
Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, formerly known as Melford Dokubo Goodhead Jr., is a businessman, activist and politician.
He was born on June 1, 1964, in Buguma, Rivers State.
Asari is the founder of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, one of the most significant armed groups in the Niger Delta region.
He is well-known for his anti-government attitude, which has made him popular among Niger Delta residents.
Some locals also regard Dikubo as a folk hero.
Education
After his elementary and secondary education, Asari opted to get a degree in Law from the University of Calabar before dropping out when he fell out with the school authority.
He then headed to the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. Similarly, Asari dropped out for the same reason.
Career
After dropping out of school, Asari decided to join partisan politics leading him to contest for office on two unsuccessful trials in 1992 and 1998, respectively.
He then opted for activism, where he and some others founded the Ijaw Youth Council(IYC) in 1998 to advance the interests of the Niger Delta’s Ijaw ethnic community.
Asari was appointed as the pioneer vice president of the organization.
The council’s primary goal is to underline long-standing Ijaw concerns about losing sovereignty over their homeland and their own lives to the Nigerian government and adjacent oil companies.
In 2001, he was elected president of the IYC and led the organization in pursuing an agenda of “Resource Control and Self-Determination by Any Means Necessary.”
The International Youth Council then launched ‘Operation Climate Change,’ in 1998 to campaign and fight peacefully for freedom, self-determination, and ecological justice.
The Nigerian government reacted swiftly by launching a crackdown on the organization.
In 2004, Asari established the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), which became a major source of conflict in the Delta region. The NDPVF, a militant organisation, was largely supported by local and regional politicians eager to profit handsomely from the region’s oil riches.
The organization was also involved in illicit oil bunkering and other local resource extraction.
Asari was charged in 2005 with treason during the Obasanjo government, but the charges were later dropped to promote reconciliation which led to being granted amnesty by the late Umaru Musa Yaradua.
Marriage
Asari Dokubo is married to Boma Dokubo and has four children
- Amirah
- Hassan
- Hussain
- Osama.
Net worth
Asari’s net worth is estimated at N622.5 million ($1.5m). He is one of the rich and famous political figures in Nigeria
Achievement
In 2013, Asari became a Benin Republic citizen and shifted his assets from Nigeria’s Niger Delta to Cotonou, where he erected multiple schools, colleges, and a university for the city’s schoolchildren and students.
Controversy
In October 2022, Asari Dokubo was seen in a viral video with an AK 47 rifle threatening to unleash mayhem on the supporters of Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
In the video, Asari pledges his support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu.
“Two million-man match in a fifteen thousand capacity stadium? In fifteen thousand capacity stadium and you held a 2 million-man match? You people should stop lying. Why not show us a stadium filed with 15 thousand people, we’ll accept it.
“Obi is going nowhere. This your Obi movement is a joke. Presenting Obi as a candidate is what any rational human being should not even think about. Presenting Obi as a candidate, a man who failed in Anambra. Nothing to show for in Anambra and that is the best Igbos can present.
“I feel sorry for Igbos. Anybody who talks you abuse them…you can’t abuse me. You can’t do me anything. If you come I go pursue you. Me na Tinubu I dey o. Na Tinubu go win this election o. Obi self no go carry third. I be coward? I dey here.”. He said in the video.
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. All details cannot be independently verified by NewsWireNGR or its editorial team.
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