by Oge Okonkwo

President Goodluck Jonathan is said to have intervened in the arrest of Muhajeed Dokubo-Asari by the government of the Republic of Benin which happened yesterday.

According to newsmen, the president had sought for details  through the Nigerian ambassador to the country on why Dokubo-Asari was taken away by the Benin Republic gendarmes.

The ex-militant was arrested yesterday by security personnels in Benin republic yesterday evening and the news of his arrest was announced by his lawyer Festus keyamo.

Daily Independent reports:

“In fact, he owns houses, schools and an academy in that country. All these places have been searched as at this evening (Tuesday) and nothing incriminating found,” Keyamo stated.

When Daily Independent spoke to Keyamo on Wednesday, he reiterated that “no official issue” had been established against his client, even though he did not rule out “political undertone” in the entire saga.

Explaining that his office had written to the presidency on the development, Kayamo said it was not unlikely the intervention was on the strength of his petition.

Regardless, we got it on good authority that President Jonathan had directed the appropriate offices in the presidency to follow up on the matter with a view to getting the right insight into the nature of the alleged offence before throwing his weight behind the controversial Nigerian.

Our dependable source told us that President Jonathan had been getting several calls since the arrest was reported, from those who believe early presidential intervention had become necessary.

Most of the calls, we were told, were from prominent persons from the South South area of the country where Dokubo-Asari hails from.

Dokubo-Asari is a major political figure of the Ijaw ethnic group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He was president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) for a time beginning in 2001 and later founded the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) which would become one of the most prominent armed groups operating in the Niger Delta region. He is a Muslim with populist views and an anti-government stance that have made him a folk hero amongst certain members of the local population.