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« Asari-Dokubo: Shell shuts N/Delta offices | Main | FG to Charge Dokubo for Treason; Shell evacuates workers »

September 22, 2005

Nigeria militia lawyer arrested

A lawyer representing a separatist leader from Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region has been arrested in court in the capital, Abuja.

Mujahid Dokubu-Asari angrily denounced the government as a "dictatorship" after his lawyer, Uche Okoko, was detained when he arrived at the court.

Mr Asari's group had threatened to sabotage oil installations unless he were freed on Wednesday.

They seek more control of oil resources for the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta.

Mr Asari was arrested on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, the centre of Nigeria's oil industry.

A judge ruled that the authorities could keep him in custody for a further two weeks.

Justice Minister Bayo Ojo said Mr Asari would be charged with "treason and unlawful assembly".

Mr Okoko, the lawyer, is expected to face similar charges - but he was outraged at his treatment.

"I came from Port Harcourt to bail him out and I've been arrested for treason," he shouted to reporters as he was led off.

Interview

A police spokesman said Mr Asari was being held over a newspaper interview, in which he allegedly said he would continue his fight until Nigeria dissolves.

A statement issued by the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force on Wednesday warned of "grave mayhem" if Mr Asari were not released by early afternoon.

More than 150 of Mr Asari's supporters, armed with machetes, demonstrated in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

But there have been no reports of violence since the deadline passed.

Hundreds of soldiers and riot police are manning checkpoints in Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt, reports Reuters news agency.

Last year, the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force contributed to a sharp rise in world oil prices when it threatened war against oil companies.

The Niger Delta remains one of Nigeria's poorest and least developed regions, although it accounts for most of the 2.4 million barrels of oil produced by Nigeria, Africa's largest oil-producer, each year.

Posted by Publisher at September 22, 2005 03:58 PM

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