Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force, has been shown in a video brandishing an Ak47 and issuing threats against Igbos. Mr Dokubo, a former Niger Delta militant, was at the State House for a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Friday, less than a year after his rants against the ethnic group.

In the viral video posted on YouTube in October, Mr Dokubo, wearing a T-shirt with ‘American Eagle’, said, “The Igbo people do not know their roots. They don’t have respect for who bought their father. You think every Kalabari man is a Kalabari man. Igbos, I don’t know them. If not for British intervention, I will still be selling them the way my father sold them.”

He added, “See how the Igbo people are dying. They keep saying that I have run away. Look at me; I’m here. E be like say una dey look for who go look for una finish una. Look for una everywhere finish una.” 

Alex Ogbonnia, a spokesperson for Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, said Mr Dokubo’s rant would not be dignified with a response.

“Asari Dokubo does not deserve a response from the National Executive Committee of Ohaneze Ndigbo,” Mr Ogbonnia told Peoples Gazette on Wednesday.

He added, “Rather, we have a youth wing that will respond to him. I’ll be lowering the office of the NEC of Ohaneze to respond to Dokubo. It doesn’t fit it.”

Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the spokesperson for the police, told The Gazette that he had not seen the video.

“I have not seen the video. I am not aware of that,” Mr Adejobi stated.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the time Mr Dokubo displayed weapons and threatened the Igbo ethnic group. YouTube indicates it was at least eight months ago, not after the meeting with President Tinubu.