FOLLOWING his interrogation by the State Security Service (SSS) over his alleged connection to the October 1, 2010 bomb blast at the Eagle Square, Abuja that claimed several lives, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Aleogho Raymond Dokpesi, has claimed that he was implicated in the incident because of his work as the director-general of the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s, presidential campaign.
This is contained in a new authorized biography titled, ‘The Handkerchief,’ written by Okoh Aihe, Bayo Bodunrin, Christopher Ebuetse Ayo Ogundele and Johnson Onime, and due for release this week to coincide with Dokpesi’s 70th birthday.
The book states how security agents within hours of the incident invited the media mogul for questioning, pointing out that the interrogation led to a rare unanimity of opinions among political actors that the action against him was politically motivated.
The book reads in part: “The allegation against Dokpesi turned out to be such imaginary claim. It was purely a phantom war against the state which, if proved, attracts heavy sanction, including hanging. But those who rallied round Dokpesi said he was never a man of violence.
“It was not long to establish that the allegation of unsettling peace against Dokpesi was not unconnected to his acceptance of the assignment to co-ordinate the campaigns of former Military President Ibrahim. Babangida who threw his hat into the ring and was on the sweep stakes with President Jonathan for the sole presidential ticket of the ruling People’s Democratic Party. Babangida later withdrew from the race.
“In the course of the scheming for the PDP ticket, many considered Dokpesi’s choice as a tricky decision, considering the bitter media war that had been waged over the zoning of the 2011 presidency.
“As it was, the North was convinced that it was its preserve to continue with the second term slot which late President Umaru Yar’Adua did not complete. President Jonathan and his supporters felt it was unheard of to ask an incumbent to vacate office on the excuse of the zoning formula of the PDP.
“For Dokpesi, public perception regarding his choice as campaign manager was highly suspicious, and they rightly considered it a delicate political venture given that Dokpesi is from the South-South, the same zone as President Jonathan.
Apart from that, Dokpesi was in the campaign’s forefront by the people of South-South to produce the President in the 2007 elections.
“As a frontline leader of the South-South Peoples Assembly (SSPA), public perception does not permit Dokpesi to quickly recant his South-South convictions less than four years and to join the IBB team.
The biography blames government for often misdirecting security agencies to implicate perceived political foes in phantom plots, to cower critics or perceived opponents.
Recall that then President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the Independence Day bomb blast Movement on the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), some of whose members were later prosecuted and jailed over the incident. Dokpesi also reveals in the book that some South-South governors who were active members of the South-South Peoples Assembly (SSPA) became jealous of then Rivers State governor, Peter Odili, who became the front runner for the presidential ticket of the PDP in the 2007 election.
The governors who were in SSPA at the time were Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa), Donald Duke (Cross River), James Ibori (Delta), Lucky Igbinedion (Edo), and Dr Peter Odili (Rivers) while Dopkesi was the chairman of the steering committee.
However, former President Jonathan said he did not hesitate to write forward to the book. In the forward, Jonathan wrote: “I am fascinated by the title of this book, ‘The Handkerchief,’ for the obvious reason that I am also from a humble background where hope for tomorrow did not wear the clear colours of the rainbow.
“So, I know very well the functions of the handkerchief which for people like Raymond Aleogho Dopkesi’s mother, Aishetu, was not for prestige but of toil and sorrow, to wipe off the ever-present sweat, and sometimes, tears.”
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