By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA—Leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, and ex-President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Alhaji Mujahid Abubakar Asari-Dokubo, yesterday, distanced himself from the activities of the Boko Haram sect, saying attempts to link him with the group was “satanic.”

At a briefing in Abuja, yesterday, Dokubo debunked his alleged connection with the group as portrayed in an advertorial he said was published in a national daily (not Vanguard).

He insisted that though he shared a detention cell with Mallam Mohammed Yusuf, the late leader of Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad, a.k.a Boko Haram, before he died in 2009, he had never engaged into any form of relationship with the sect.

Denouncing the allegation, which he said was levelled against him by a group, Council of Ijaw Youth for the Unity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, COIYN, Dokubo maintained that it was nothing but a deliberate ploy to “create satanic intrigues that will generate bad blood between me and President Goodluck Jonathan.”

He said: “As President of IYC, I received no support whatsoever, financially or otherwise, from any Islamic group or individuals. No northern youth joined IYC as its constitution provides that only Ijaw youths within certain age bracket can be members.

”It is very clear that the sponsors of this group want to link me to the so-called Boko Haram sect, as their founder, financier and sponsor; to give a reason for the Federal Government to arrest me and throw me back into detention pending when full investigation of my supposed involvement with group is completed.

“I want to state that in my travels and detention, I have met members of the Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad, erroneously referred to as Boko Haram. I met the late Mallam Mohammed Yusuf at the Indimi Mosque in Maiduguri in 1995/1996 during my stay in Maiduguri in the course of my Islamic studies.

“I was also detained at the State Security Services, SSS, headquarters underground detention centre and put in a cell where Yusuf was also detained a few days before my arrival.

”During my stay in  detention, I interacted with other members of the organisation who were also detained in other cells. That is the only close contact I have had with members of the organisation.

”My views and relationship with the northern elite and political establishment is well known.

“I have never pretended to be diplomatic in stating the obvious fact and it will be totally inconceivable to have recruited northern youths into IYC and NDPVF when most northerners view these organisations as anti-North and, therefore, fighting against the political, economic and social survival of the North.”