‘Unfounded And Inciting’ — Ohanaeze Slams Dokubo Over Rivers State Muslim Claims

 

Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Worldwide, Rivers State chapter, has firmly dismissed claims by former militant leader Asari Dokubo that Igbo people were attacking Northern Muslims in Rivers State, describing his widely circulated video as misleading, inciting, and factually unfounded.

The President of Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Worldwide, Rivers State chapter, Livingstone Wechie, issued a statement in Port Harcourt on Monday, February 16, 2026, responding to a video by Dokubo that had gone viral online and was generating significant public tension across the state.

The incident that sparked the controversy occurred on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at approximately 7:00 a.m. at a fruit market in Oil Mill, Rumuokwurusi, in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. According to the police and Ohanaeze’s statement, a man identified as Higightor Wenem, a 30-year-old from Mbagel Village, Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State, was killed by a wheelbarrow pusher identified as Zakara Afaaruwu. The confrontation reportedly started as a dispute between a trader and a cart pusher at the market.

The Rivers State Police Command confirmed that the incident led to tension and a breakdown of order between members of the Hausa and Benue communities in the area, but stated that prompt police intervention restored calm and prevented further violence. Police authorities provided the identities of both the victim and the alleged suspect.

Despite the police account, Dokubo released a video in which he alleged that Igbos were responsible for attacks on Northern Muslims in Rivers State and accused the group of planning to turn the state into a battleground.

Ohanaeze’s response was direct and unequivocal. “There is a venomous and inciting video trending online by an ex-agitator, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, accusing Igbos of attacking Northern Muslims and planning to turn Rivers State into a battleground,” the statement read.

“This reaction is made for the sole purpose of guiding the gullible public to nullify Chief Asari’s misleading and malicious statements in the trending video against Ndi-Igbo,” Wechie stated.

The organisation challenged the factual basis of Dokubo’s allegations, noting that neither the police statement nor any verified report placed Igbo individuals at the scene of the altercation. “For the record, there is no evidence that Igbos were involved in the unfortunate incident at the Oil Mill Market, nor were there reports or proof of destruction of Mosques contrary to the charges by Asari Dokubo,” the group claimed.

Ohanaeze also pushed back against the characterisation of Igbo people as threats to religious harmony, pointing to the community’s longstanding and widespread presence across northern Nigeria. “There is a massive thriving population of Ndi-Igbo in northern Nigeria, and they are doubtlessly the highest population in Rivers State,” the statement read.

The group also emphasised internal religious diversity within the Igbo community itself. “Ndi-Igbo are not insensitive to religious rights of individuals and groups, irrespective of their ethnicity or race. Most importantly, there are both Christian and Muslim Igbos alike, and this is very important to state,” Wechie said.

Wechie cited the Rivers State Police Command’s official statement as a rebuttal to all of Dokubo’s central claims. “It was the Nigerian Police Force Rivers State Command that supplied the particulars of both the victim and the alleged killer,” he noted, reinforcing that the confrontation was between Hausa and Benue individuals, not a religiously or ethnically coordinated attack by Igbo people.

He called on relevant institutions and the general public to disregard Dokubo’s statements. “I urge the general public and all relevant institutions to completely discountenance the emotional outburst and combustible propositions reeled by Alhaji Asari Dokubo as being unfounded and only aimed at pitching Ndi-Igbo against their neighbours for no reason,” he said.

Ohanaeze did not hold back in its assessment of Dokubo’s role in the situation. “We, therefore, advise Chief Asari Dokubo to desist from falsely framing Ndi-Igbo and branding them enemies when indeed they are the most treasured allies anyone can have,” the group added, calling for Dokubo to be brought to order by relevant authorities.

Addressing members of the Igbo community in Rivers State directly, Wechie urged restraint and law-abiding conduct even under pressure. “It is beneath our dignity as Igbos to resort to jungle justice,” he said, encouraging community members to go about their legitimate businesses despite the provocative climate created by the video.

The incident and the subsequent public dispute highlight the fragile state of inter-communal relations in Rivers State, a region that has historically experienced cycles of ethnic and community tension shaped by its complex demographic mix. Rivers State is home to a substantial Igbo population, as well as significant communities from across the Niger Delta, the South-South, the South-East, and the North, many of whom have settled in commercial hubs like Port Harcourt over decades.

Asari Dokubo, whose full name is Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, is a former Niger Delta militant leader who founded the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force and was at various points a significant figure in the region’s resource control agitation. He has remained a vocal and often controversial public voice on issues touching on religion, ethnicity, and political governance in Nigeria. His comments have previously attracted criticism from multiple quarters for stoking communal tensions.

The tendency for market disputes and localised altercations to escalate quickly into ethnic or religious crises in Nigerian cities has been a recurring pattern that security and community relations experts have long flagged. The role of social media in amplifying unverified narratives before security agencies can establish the facts has increasingly become a critical factor in how quickly such incidents generate public disorder.

As at the time of the Ohanaeze statement, calm had reportedly been restored in the Rumuokwurusi area following police intervention, and investigations into the killing of Higightor Wenem were continuing.