She’s American, she’s 60 and, according to the State Security Service (SSS), she’s a spy. She’s Chief (Dr) Mrs Judith Asuni. She’s Nigerian as well. She holds a Nigerian passport, having married and divorced a Nigerian, has chieftaincy titles, and knows Nigeria—particularly the Niger Delta—like the back of her hand. She loves everything Nigerian.

But she may soon be on her way to jail.

Thursday, last week, the Federal Government charged Asuni, two Germans and a Nigerian to the Federal High Court, Abuja, for offences connected with the violation of the Official Secrets Act, a sort of euphemism for espionage.

Asuni, Florian Alexander Orpitx, Andy Lehmann (Germans) and Danjuma Saidu (Nigerian) were formally arraigned before the court on a seven-count charge of conspiring to commit felony by agreeing “to enter the vicinity of protected place to take photographs”.

Asuni, whose case the American government has expressed interest, is said to be a well-connected woman in the corridors of power, well known to the biggest politicians in town, including governors and ministers in Obasanjo’s administration.
She was also said have flaunted a supposed “close” relationship  with Obasanjo to open the tightest of doors in the country—making a fortune in return. She runs a non-governmental organisation called Academics Associates Peaceworks which, allegedly, landed her in untold fortune. She is the Executive Director. She is also well known in civil society circles.

“She is a Nigerian through and through,” said a Nigerian official who worked with an international organisation which had to do some business with her in the line of duty. “Everybody seemed to fear her because of the names she was dropping around. She would just casually, but obviously deliberately, tell you so and so governor had dinner in her house last night.”

However, the family is not taking the accusations against her lightly. In a press statement released last night, the family alleged that beneficiaries of the Niger Delta crisis were behind “Asuni’s travails”.

The text of the statement, signed by her eldest daughter and spokesperson of the family, Dr Bolanle Asuni-Limann, read:

“On September 26 2007, my mother, Dr. Judith Asuni along with two (2) German film makers, was arrested on allegations of espionage. She has remained in detention at the State Security Service headquarters in Abuja since that date.  She, a Nigerian and American citizen, remains in detention while the two Germans have regained their freedom, on bail and are in the custody of the German Embassy. My mother is a peace activist and has been working to ensure the eradication of poverty in many parts of Nigeria through conflict resolution, management and prevention.”

“Dr. Judith Burdin Asuni is the executive director of Academic Associates Peace Works, a Chief of Ughelli Kingdom, and a woman of integrity. She has dedicated the past 17 years of her life in Nigeria to conflict management and peaceful resolutions and possesses invaluable information about the conflicts in the Niger Delta region. Due to  the outstanding contribution she has made to our country, my mother was made a key partner in the Peace and Security Secretariat (PAS) that was commissioned by Dr. Edmond Dakouru the then Minister of Petroleum Resources and Mr. Funso Kupolokun, the former Group Managing Director of the NNPC in 2004.

“In August 2004, Dr. Judith Asuni and the Rivers State Government established peace in the Niger Delta via disarming, demobilizing, reorientation and reintegrating some members of the militia groups into the civil society. Working with the security chiefs -- SSS, police and military, during October 2004, the Disarmament Committee chaired by Governor Odili collected weapons from militants which were publicly destroyed.”
“As a Peace activist, between February and March 2006, she worked with  Bayelsa and Delta state Governments to secure freedom for 13 hostages.  She was also involved in the creation of the Yenagoa Accord, which at that time, was a basis for proactive development of the Niger Delta.”

“Due to the great success of these diverse initiatives, Dr. Judith Asuni is commonly referred to by the former Niger Delta Militant youths as ‘Mama Peace’.  She is married to an internationally acclaimed Nigerian Professor of psychiatry, Tolani Asuni, and they have three (3) daughters.

“Given the success of the multitude of peace initiatives achieved, one has to question the underlying motives for the allegations of espionage proffered against her at this time
“I hope that the source of her recent travails has not emanated from top-ranking politicians and government officials that were exposed by her studies on the origin and evolution of cult activities in the Niger Delta region under the PAS programme.”

Support came Asuni’s way yesterday as Nigeria’s environmental rights group, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), criticised the arrest and detention of the woman, saying “the whole episode comes short of what was expected in a democratic government”.

ERA/FOEN decried the allegation of espionage levelled “against the peace activist”, alleging that government might just be using her case to intimidate NGOs and individuals working with local communities in the Niger Delta.

“When has filming protesting youths become a threat to national security and espionage? When has filming oil facilities become an issue under Official Secrecy Act? We are worried that this government is conducting this case as if it has declared a state of emergency in the Niger Delta.

“Our concern is that very soon they will tell us filming spill site is a threat to national security. They will begin to arrest local people protesting oil spills on their farms. This whole episode reeks of attempt by government to intimidate everybody out of the Niger Delta so that the military can completely take over the whole region,” ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, said.

According to the group, Dr. Asuni has worked tirelessly for over a decade trying to assist government in finding solutions to the restiveness of Niger Delta youths. “Some of her initiatives had yielded fruits in the form of ceasefires by rival groups and surrender of arms to government,” it said.

Her decision to help foreign journalists get Nigerian visas under the pretext of being coming to Nigeria to conduct academic research might have been the final blow as the Nigerians authorities did not take kindly to it.

THISDAY checks revealed that many foreign journalists who want to come to Nigeria to report on the Niger Delta crisis are being denied entry after the CNN experience last year when its former reporter, Jeff Koinanage, caused controversy with the filming of alleged militants. Nigeria protested and terminated its advertising contract with the American broadcasting company.

“Asuni’s decision to provide cover for the German journalists must have irked the security agencies,” a source told THISDAY last night.

THISDAY learnt at the weekend that the charges against Asuni might also have been intended to “cut her to size” following her larger than life personality under the last regime.

Photo news from Academics Associates Peaceworks (with few comments by Africans In America News Watch)

Pictorial news of Dr. Judith Asuni, popularly called “Mama Peace” by the restless youths in Nigeria’s oil-polluted Niger Delta area was obtained from Academics Associates Peaceworks.

Dr. Judith Asuni’s popularity among the exploited peasants and inhabitants may have infuriated some powerful interests in the Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

When one falls-out with powerful interests in Nigeria, taking pictures of protesters and environmental pollution could strangely become ‘violation of national security’ which lands one in jail. It is unknown whether that is part of much publicized Nigeria’s new government version of ‘home-grown democracy’ and ‘rule of law’.

Ironically and strangely enough, doing good, raising awareness on social ills, addressing social ills such as corruption of government officials, succeeding in doing those and becoming very popular with the oppressed people could have irritating effect on some powerful interests (domestic and foreign) in Nigeria.

Strangely enough, in Yar’Adua’s Nigeria, addressing social ills and most importantly, raising awareness could become ‘violation of national security’. That reminds one of the brutal days of General Sanni Abacha; however; four major noticeable differences between Servant-Leader, President Yar’Adua and Dictator-General, President Abacha, though are; Yar’Adua does not wear dark sunglasses, he smiles very often in public, Yar’Adua espouses populist thoughts and he professes that he is a Servant-Leader.

“Some anti-foreigners’ hawks, retrogressive forces, enemies of peace and progress  in Nigerian government may be sending out many danger signals using Dr. Judith Asuni as a weapon to do just that”, said some Nigerians in United States.