An Open Letter to Asari Dokubo

From Kio Amachree

Stockholm

Dear Asari,

It is for the sake of Kalabari unity, and for that reason alone, that I am reaching out to you. We descend from the same waters, the same bloodline, the same kingdom. That is the only claim I make on your attention, and it is the only reason this letter is written as an appeal rather than a denunciation.

Let me be direct. It is impossible for me, or for anyone, to bring money into the Niger Delta while you continue to make videos threatening to kill people — videos watched by millions across the world. Every one of those videos undoes years of work. You have destroyed the image of the Niger Delta. People are scared of you. You are heavily funded, heavily armed, and you carry a terrible reputation for violence. So tell me: which sane international banker will allow investors to put one dollar into the region you and I both descend from, while its most visible son promises death on camera?

I am asking you to stop. Stop the threats to human life. Stop the racist videos about other ethnic groups. Stop all of it. Threatening to kill people online is illegal, and it is catastrophic publicity for the Niger Delta and for Nigeria.

And while you do all this, you are being paid astronomical sums — dollar figures no ordinary person can comprehend. Yet our rivers are still polluted. Our youth are still unemployed. Our communities still wait for the development that never comes. And you parade yourself around like a god.

I am not scared of you, and I am not scared of your people. There is nothing you can do to me. But for reasons of bloodline, for the sake of the Kalabari nation and the Delta we both come from, I ask you — stop threatening to kill people. Put down the theatre of violence and let investment, dignity, and development have a chance in the land of our fathers.

Kio Amachree

Founder and President, Worldview International

Stockholm