Founder of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Mr Asari Dokubo, has denied himself citizenship of the nation Nigeria.
The former freedom fighter said he couldn’t establish anything in a ‘strange land’ where his enemies abound.
Dokubo stated this while speaking as guest in ‘Rubbin Minds’, a programme on the Channels Television on Sunday.
The Niger Delta indigene who had vowed to make blood flow on the streets of the country if Jonathan loses as president of the nation come February 14, publicly declared that he had no regret dumping Nigeria for neighboring Benin Republic.
When asked why he did not establish his institution in the country, a fire-splitting Asari said: “I am a businessman. My business is mostly centered around education. I have about four schools.
“I have crèche, nursery and secondary school, King Amachree International School in Cotonou, Republic of Benin. I have King Amachree Automobile and ICT Academy and I have King Amachree Arts Academy and King Amachree Sports Academy.
“Its only education that I do. By March, King Amachree African University will come on board”.
He noted that his passion for education, despite not completing his own university education, was because the quality of education being offered in Nigeria was very inadequate as he believes “it just prepares people to speak English, to write and to make noise.
“Any student who graduates from my school is skilled,”.
Asked why, according to reports, he has a university in the Republic of Benin rather than building it in Nigeria, he said, “I don’t see myself as a Nigerian and I cannot establish a school in an enemy territory.
“For over 30 years, I’ve been at loggerheads with the Nigerian Government, first as a Student Union leader, then President of National Union of Rivers State Students, participating in student unionism.
“I have been an enemy of the Nigerian state, so to say. Up till today, there’s a treason trial hanging on my head and you cannot just put your business in an environment where one person would get up and say ‘I close down this business’.
“I want somewhere where I can express myself and flourish and that’s what I’m doing. We started small but gradually we are becoming bigger and bigger.”
Asari Dokubo, who became a citizen of the neighbouring Republic of Benin in 2013 maintained that he had never been a Nigerian citizen.
“I have never been a Nigerian. Nations are not created by force…they are created by the people. You saw Scotland trying to vote yes or no. Today no Scottish man can say ‘I’m not a Briton’ because majority of Scottish people have accepted to remain in the British Union.”
He also gave his opinion about Nigeria’s 2014 National Conference, maintaining that the existence of a “no-go-area”, among other issues, meant that the country was yet to hold a sovereign national conference, which he had demanded for 30 years.
“We don’t want a situation where somebody will arrogate to himself the power to decide the fate of other people. We want a Nigeria that recognizes that there are different nations no matter how small they are, and they are accorded the same space in Nigeria,” he added.
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