By Innocent Anaba

International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, INTERSOCIETY, yesterday, described as callous, selfish and baseless, the call by former Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, for the arrest and prosecution of the ex-Niger Delta militants over their threats to return to the creeks should President Goodluck Jonathan continue to be attacked and stoned in the North in his campaign rallies or if he is rigged out in the presidential polls.

Intersociety, in a statement by its Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi in Onitsha, Anambra State, said: “It is very difficult to link such call to a statesmanly view.

“The referenced call is deemed jittery and selfish because it is feared in certain quarters that huge private investments in oil and gas, through an age-long OPL license, will be endangered if such threats become a reality.

“In other climes, statesmen are selfless and sacrificial, ready to die for the common good of their countries. They are also seminal in finding solutions to their countries’ social contradictions.

“As Mr. Danjuma is dissipating energies condemning the ex-Niger Delta militants, Fulani jihadists and gunmen are busy massacring scores of people in Southern Kaduna, yet the Danjumas of this world see nothing wrong in such institutionalized butchery.

“The candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, for instance, has advocated for changing government democratically through violence, yet he was not arrested and prosecuted.

“The clear import of the reported threat of war credited to the ex-Niger Delta militants is that the era of one section of the country claiming to have monopoly of violence and born-to-rule prowess is over and gone for good.”