Edwin Clark And The Moral Question
Chief Edwin Clark has become the new voice for the Niger Delta people
even though he is aged but age has nothing to do with his kind of
aspiration to ‘govern’ all the Ijaw and their sister states in the
South-South geopolitical zone. It is quite believable today that any
governor in these states who does not adhere to his kind of view or
policy will not drink and rest his cup. One incidence that has made this
writer believe this was when the governor of Rivers State, Chibuike
Amaechi paid him a visit in his home town in Delta State, after Amaechi
won Sir Celestine Omehia who was then the governor of Rivers State at
the Supreme Court on Oct. 25 2007. Before this victory, Chief Clark was
a thorn in the neck of Omehia for reason that does not meet the eyes. As
a godfather of the Ijaw Clark stands as for today, Amaechi complained to
him that he was not a cultist. And that could be why Clark now allows
Amaechi government to be bereft of crisis as Nigerians can see Clark
calling on all the warlords in the Rivers State to sheath their swords.
Though, this writer is not a supporter of fratricide, patricide or
homicide.
Nigerians did not know who Clark was but Obasanjo knew. Soon after
Obasanjo won the 1999 election, Obasanjo held a meeting with Niger-Delta
stakeholders where each and every one in attendance was given the
opportunity to speak. After Clark’s speech, it was characterized by
finger venom, vituperation and vilification. Obasanjo could not help but
observe that the man whom experience, political stature and age has made
the natural leader of the Ijaw people has not changed in speech
mannerism despite the passage of time since knowing him in the 60s.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo captured the persona called Chief
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.
Hear Obasanjo: “Chief Clark, when would you stop all this rascality? Since
I knew you, you have been a trouble maker.” Chief Clark seemed to be
irked, he wrote a letter in the form of advertorial to Obasanjo captioned:“Leave President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Alone.” Clark believed that his
outspokenness and the recourse to ‘negotiating’ is what make a leader
especially in the Niger Delta.
Hear Clark: “ As I have always said, and it has remained a guiding
principle, is that, when you are 70 years and over, you are at the
departure lounge awaiting your boarding pass. Therefore, you should be
courageous enough to speak the truth and condemn all that is evil.” When
this was published, many observers said, “By that, he perhaps would want
to be seen as a rebel. But while no one can deny him the right, it is a
different case if his own “rebellion” is founded on a just cause.”
But that was not over. Like he has not allowed Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of
Delta State today, in the run up to the 2007 governorship election in
Delta State, Clark took on then Governor James Ibori, alleging among other
things, that the governor had mismanaged the resources of the state to the
point that he sink it into indebtedness. He claimed the state owed banks
about N120 billion.
Following that allegation, observers noted that the same claim was
rehashed at a meeting presided over by the former minister under the
aegis of Delta Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum held at Emu Uno,
Ndokwa West Local Government of the state in 2007. Interestingly, it was
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who dismissed the allegation when Clark, as
a lie, first made it.
Hear Uduaghan saying of the claim, refusing to be drawn into a brick bat
with a man he still holds in reverence: “When you are talking about debt
you are talking about people who have done their jobs, they have
certificates but were not paid. But the truth is, towards the end of the
Ibori administration and that is what happens in every administration,
people rushed their jobs, saying ‘Let me rush my job and get paid, I
don’t know what would happen tomorrow.’ So, certificates accumulate.
When we took over in May 29, the certificate was about N11 billion.
Between then and now we have off-set close to N9 billion of the debt.”
But despite Uduaghan’s explanation, the former minister and his group
issued a statement then insisting that the Ibori government owed banks
about N120 billion.
The then Clark-led group accused the Uduaghan’s administration that was
just about four months in office of financial carefree. Unlike Lamidi
Adedibu of Oyo who would want thugs to always fight his political battle,
Chief Clark would want his interventions to be seen as ultraistic. For
instance, according to the communiqué at the same meeting in Emu Uno, the
elders were informed about the progress of the petition filed by Chief
Great Ogboru against the election of Uduaghan as Delta State governor.
It is no longer news that Nigerians would recall that not only did Clark
adopt Ogboru as his candidate of choice but also kicked against the
emergence of Uduaghan as the candidate of the Delta PDP as he did the
Rivers Omehia in favour of Amaechi.
Critics said Clark was so indisposed to Uduaghan’s candidature that he
paid his old friend, Chief Obasanjo a visit at the Aso Rock.
Clark was reported went on the visit armed with a petition with a view
of having Uduaghan disqualified from the race, just the way him and some
elders from the Niger Delta visited President Yar’Adua recently in Abuja
with a 200-page petition detailing all the cultists and their formations
in Rivers and the Niger Delta.
During the 2007 elections Clark saw another opportunity to reel at Ibori
and Uduaghan and pitch them against the PDP establishment when Osakwe
won on the platform of Accord Party in a race Mariam Ali was flying the
PDP flag. Clark was annoyed, he urged the party to hold Ibori
responsible while at the same time calling on the party to investigate
or probe the defeat of the party.
With these obvious partisan positions Clark has taken even to the present
it makes it difficult for most Nigerians to believe that his outburst
against Uduaghan and Omehia was fueled by a patriotic festooning. Clark
becomes a tool for politicians who lost the governorship election to
proceed to the Election Petition Tribunal. Especially the communiqué
signed by him and 143 others; including some of the politicians loathed
Clark benefit of the garb of elder statesmanship. Rather, does this action
not portray him as a partisan?
Within the same time he was fighting Ibori, and the wake of cult related
violence that paralyzed most parts of the state, especially Port
Harcourt, the state capital. Clark labeled former Rivers State governor,
Dr. Peter Odili and some other persons as cultists. As if it was not
okay, Clark, the call he and some elders of the Niger-Delta made for an
emergency rule in Rivers was yet to settle, as the head of delegation of
Ijaw leaders to a meeting with President Umaru Yar’ Adua at the
Presidential Villa, Clark also suggested that the then incumbent
governor, Celestine Omehia may be a cultist by association.
Buttressing his accusation, the Clark alleged that Omehia’s deputy; Tele
Ikuru was a cultist also. Clark lengthened his claim by saying that the
authorities of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology
(RUST) on account of cult activities rusticated Ikuru.
Yar’Adua was shocked and had to reply Clark: “You have made very grave
allegations. Put the allegations in writing and we will investigate
them. I can assure you that our interest is for peace and stability in
the Niger-Delta. We need peace to achieve rapid development of the
region…if it is clearly established that anyone is a party to causing
the crises, he will be dealt with according to the law. We will act on
whatever comes out of a thorough and just investigation.”
On his way out of the Villa, observers noted that Clark went over the
allegations again in front of TV cameras to the extreme it discomforted
the Minister for Information and Communications, Chief John Odey, who
stood by, ready to state government’s position.
While Clark went home to get the written documents to prove his statement,
RUST denied rusticating Ikuru, also claimed lack of knowledge about his
alleged cult activities while in the institution. Omehia also denied the
allegations against him and challenged Clark to substantiate them because
as the law provides, he who asserts must prove.
The burden now lies that the 200-page allegation prove Clark and other
Niger Delta elders presented to the presidency in their recently visit
to the presidency, were the names of Odili, Omehia, Ibori, Rotimi
Amaechi, Ikuru and Uduaghan who he had accused as cultists there? But
even at that, the in-danger is that should he fail to prove these
allegations, he would invariably be diminishing in the eyes of the
leftist in the Niger delta.
Nigerians can’t forget what Omehia had said during the period: “Every
person has the fundamental right to protect his image and character, and
if you destroy the person’s character, the person has a right to go to
court.”
In a nutshell, it behoves a leader to be a peacemaker with a sense of
patriotism, not with a sense of problematic. Nigerians are watching!
By Odimegwu Onwumere
Onwumere, writes from Rivers State.
Mobile: (08032552855)
Email: nzeprince@mail.com