Editor: The peculiarity of the Nigerian nation shows in different ways. Those we did not elect wield power and authority in a way and manner that make it seem as if they have the mandate of the people. This way, the people’s democratic will, freely given, is devalued because apart from ethnic affiliation with the powers that be, there is no other justification for this state of affairs.
I write this with a question: Is Chief Edwin Clark helping President Goodluck Jonathan by his vitriolic comments against perceived political opponents or enemies? Chief Clark has assumed the position of an unofficial national political pontiff who, whenever it suits him sermonizes on national issues, even on subjects he is not very well informed about.
Recently, the great champion of Ijaw ethnic cause addressed a press conference in Abuja entitled Open Letter to Governors’ Forum. He used the opportunity to attack former President Olusegun Obasanjo for allegedly opposing President Jonathan and members of the Governors’ Forum over what he termed their support for Governor Nyako of Adamawa on his intention to appoint his wife the Chief Judge of the State. He went further to blame the controversy in Adamawa on the “selfish interest of the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Nyako and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who all want their sons to be the governor”.
Chief Clark spoke about tenures of Jonathan as guaranteed by law and on several constitutional matters as if he had been a constitutional lawyer all his life. It is surprising that Clark is accusing everyone without verifiable basis. How has Obasanjo become the problem of President Jonathan alongside Governors’ Forum? He makes it seem it is now a crime to criticise the policies of President Jonathan.
The elder statesman overreached himself by speaking extensively on Adamawa politics. He accused Governor Nyako, Tukur and Atiku of selfishness for allegedly working to outdo one another in a bid by each of them to make his son governor of Adamawa State in 2015.
Apart from the erroneous claims, he certainly took more than he could chew by making himself a master of Adamawa politics, all the way from his Ijaw kingdom. I stand to be corrected, at the last check, I am aware that Atiku has no son in politics. Even while he was in office as the Vice-President of Nigeria, no one heard of Atiku’s son or daughter in public life. It is painful that a man will speak falsehood freely on national and local issues even when it was uncalled for.
There is no doubt that since President Jonathan took over power, Clark has carried himself like a conquering emperor not minding that the President is not a “personal asset” of the Ijaw people. This mindset of Chief Clark has made more enemies than friends for Jonathan, and there is no justification for this.
Nuhu Abubakar
Jimeta Yola, Adamawa State.
