It is becoming
practically impossible for some Delta State politicians like the minister of
Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, and Speaker, Delta State House of
Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, to sleep with their two eyes closed.Reason? Chief
Edwin Clark! The Ijaw leader has become a stumbling block to their ambitions.
Kola Niyi-Eke narrates the drama playing out.
South South chieftain and Ijaw leader, Chief
Edwin Clark is the perfect definition of a dogged fighter, who throws all to
the ring if he chooses to fight. And since the return of democracy in 1999, he
has managed to keep the smile on his face; at least on the long run. He indeed
has been a stakeholder in Delta State and largely commands followership.
Two individuals who are known to want to
succeed Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in Delta State come 2015 are the minister of
Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe and Speaker, Delta State House of
Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei. The duo has not made any pretence of their
ambitions. But for Chief Clark, it surely isn’t his Delta State that they are
talking about. As far as he is concerned, the duo must be jesters making fun of a very serious issue.
He particularly faulted Orubebe for declaring
for the governorship of Delta State contrary to directives by President
Goodluck Jonathan to members of his cabinet to stay off politics and focus on
governance.
“I wish to advise Orubebe and Ochei to give
peace a chance and not use their positions to intimidate and cause confusion
among the people”, Clark had thundered.
He described Ochei as a contractor who
allegedly got a mega contract worth N27billion for an Independent Power project
(IPP) at Oghareki, collected N18billion from the Delta State Government, but
nothing has happened on the site, just as he tongue lashed Orubebe for
allegedly sponsoring two court cases against the leadership of the Party in
respect of his local government, the Burutu local government council, and the
Delta State Executive in various courts within Delta State and the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja, because he wants to control them while also pitching
one ethnic nationality against the order.
Hon. Joan Amaechi
Mrakpor, Member, Delta State House of Assembly
(DTHA) at a function in Ubulu Okiti community,
Aniocha South Council Area of Delta State, recently admitted in her speech that
three Delta North politicians are in the race to be Governor of Delta State in
2015.
She mentioned Chief Clement Ofuani, former
senior special assistant to President Jonathan on Presidential Matters, Senator
Ifeanyi Okowa, representing Delta North Senatorial District and Hon. Ochei.
Other notable candidates from Delta North are Tony Elumelu, Ngozi Olojeme,
Sylvester Monye, Sam Obi and Godswil Obielum. Senator Pius Ehwerido and Orubebe
from Delta South are others said to be in the race too.
But Clark has come under attack from Orubebe,
who after much silence seems to have drawn the battle line between him and the
elder statesman as he hit back at Orubebe recently.
Orubebe’s former Special Adviser on media and
publicity Mr Ekenwan Ekwagbe, has cautioned Clark on his utterances,
saying he (Clark) had no power to stop Orubebe from realising his Governorship
ambition in Delta State in 2015 as, according to him, Clark was not God and
should stop playing God.
He said the remarks on Orubebe by Clark were
unbecoming of an elder statesman, well respected in the region and beyond.
“The statement does not disturb or move
anybody because we know where we are coming from and where we are going to. All
of us in Delta State, Burutu local government are, where Clark and Orubebe come
from know each other and ourselves,” Ekwagbe raged recently.
The trouble between the two men dates back to
May 19, 2012, when Clark, in a letter captioned “Re: Delta State Congress and
the State Executive” and addressed to Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, Chairman,
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Delta State, wherein he listed 29 names, positions
and senatorial zones of his loyalists he wanted as members of the state
executives.
In the letter also copied Orubebe and Dr
Richard Oru, Vice Chairman, PDP South South Zone, Clark had claimed that the
list from him is the correct membership of the Delta State Executives of the
party, saying the list replaced the earlier one.
He warned Oru to avoid another crisis in the
party, reminding him that a copy of the letter had been addressed to Nwaoboshi,
Alhaji Bamangar Tukur National Chairman of the party for their information.
“I wish to refer to the recent discussions we
had at my residence when you returned from the overseas tour in respect of the
above subject matter. I have also had discussions with Orubebe and Dr Cairo
Ojoughoh who represented me at the congress. And we have accordingly agreed on
some very important amendment to reflect our interest in the harmonisation
exercise of the two lists, and the agreed list of the state executive is hereby
reflected below. It just emphasised that no changes or amendment were made to
the Governor’s list”, Clark’s letter read.
Clark and Prof Amos Utuama, SAN, Delta State
Deputy Governor, in their respective involvement emphasised that no changes or
amendment were made to the Governor’s list and the leaders and elder of the
party were told by the Governor to meet with Chief Clark’s group. But the
authentic state party executives that were elected at the 2012 state congress
held on 17th March 2012 demanded the National Chairman to direct Nwaoboshi to
allow them free hand to do their work without interruption from Clark, advising
Clark to allow peace and harmony in the party without arrogating the exclusive
power of the congress to himself. They lamented that the authentic list of 29
names of winners, their positions endorsed by Dr Anne Ugbo, Chairman and
Returning Officer and Ibrahim Bamalli, Electoral Officer, during the election
must be adhered to even when Clark was abroad for medical trip when the
congress was done.
That was said to be the genesis of the
disagreement between Clark and Orubebe to which each faction has been claiming
upper hand and calling the bluff of the other. While the faction loyal to
Orubebe see Clark as an impostor, who pretends to be a crusader but behind does
things that are undemocratic, that of Ochei gave him the attribute of an elder
putting shapeless pegs in a round hole.
But Ekenwan Ekwagbe, former special adviser on
media and publicity to Orubebe noted that Clark had caused a lot of
embarrassment to President Jonathan, through his utterances, by attacking
highly placed Nigerians, positing that if Clark’s son, Ebikime, could not win
election in Burutu Council, how could he determine who becomes Governor
of the entire Delta State?
When a group from Delta North, under the
umbrella of Anioma Agenda, visited Clark to seek his support for the 2015
Governorship election, Clark told them to seek and fight for their rights to
produce the next Governor of the state since two other senatorial districts
have produced governors of the state for two consecutive terms of eight years
each.
However, as it is, there are other factors,
apart from the above ones that would be consequential in determining who
becomes the next governor of the Oil rich state, but one thing that is unclear
for now is where lies the interest of the Presidency and Governor Emmanuel
Uduaghan, believed to be major deciding parties as to where the pendulum would
swing to ultimately.
Culled
from Leadership
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