I WILL SUPPORT BUHARI –EDWIN CLARK

A former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has pledged to work with the President -elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He said he would support him the way he supported the late President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua.
Clark stated this in a congratulatory message he sent to Buhari, who defeated President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28 presidential election.
President Jonathan, who Clark supported passionately, was the presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the election.
He said, “I congratulate you and reassure you that as you get to commence the process of peaceful transition and government, you will have my full support, as a man who strongly believes in the unity of Nigeria. Just as I supported our most respected late President, Umaru Yar’Adua and his successor, President Jonathan as long as you will at all times uphold the dignity of Nigeria and those things that bind us together as one united country.
“Remember that part of our old National Anthem which says ‘Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand.’

2015: WHERE PDP GOT IT WRONG – CLARK

Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark said yesterday that the alleged imposition of candidates who did not win the party primary elections as party candidate will haunt the party at the polls.
He regretted that the imposition of candidates was at all levels in the party.
The ruling party’s machinery ensured President Goodluck Jonathan emerged PDP’s sole presidential candidate. Party chieftains had declared the seat was not vacant.
Consequently, PDP governors keyed in and bulldozed the way for their preferred candidates to emerge party gubernatorial candidates at all cost. Some of the governors ensured their candidates won their primary elections. Delta State was one of the few exceptions where the incumbent Governor allowed true democracy to hold sway. However, for state and national assemblies, the PDP leadership substituted names of many winners with those who lost in the primaries. The story was same in many parts of the country where party members who suffered such humiliation decamped to other parties.

APC FORMED TO INSTALL A NORTHERNER AS PRESIDENT, NO BUHARI, NO APC, CLARK ALLEGES

ABUJA- AHEAD of the Presidential and general elections slated for March 28 and April 11 respectively, former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark claimed yesterday that the All Progressives Congress, APC was formed with the sole aim of installing a northerner as the president of the country.
Speaking yesterday when he received the leadership and members of the Yoruba Youth Council, Worldwide at his Asokoro residence, Abuja led by its National President, Comrade Eric Oluwole, Chief Clark who noted that APC would no longer function if its Presidential candidate was removed from the party, said, ” APC was formed to install a northerner as the president of Nigeria. You saw what happened at the Presidential primaries of the APC where Buhari emerged with very wide margin. Without Buhari, there will be no APC. ”

CLARK’S GROUP ASKS JEGA TO RESIGN

Supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan has called for the resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The supporters, under the aegis of Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly led by Chief Edwin Clark, made the demand at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
Among those at the briefing were a former Minister of Information, Walter Ofonagoro; a former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chuwuemeka Ezeife; a former Commissioner in Bayelsa State, Chief Whisky Ayakeme; Dr. Cairo Ojugboh and Sen. Femi Okunronmu.

DANJUMA’S CALL FOR EX-MILITANTS’ ARREST: CALL IN BAD TASTE, SAYS CLARK

IJAW national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, yesterday in his country home in Kiagbodo, Delta State, faulted the call by Gen. Danjuma.
Clark said Danjuma, whom he said he respects so much, was in bad taste.
According to him, several Northern leaders, including the APC presidential candidate, “Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Keita, Ciroma and several others” had threatened to make that there would be no Nigeria if a northerner was not elected president in 2015 and that they would make the country ungovernable for Jonathan.

MU’AZU, OTHERS MISINFORMING JONATHAN -CLARK

A former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has accused the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, of misinforming President Goodluck Jonathan on issues concerning the party.

Clark miffed at Mu’azu for, according to him, imposing a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, on the ruling party in Adamawa State as its governorship candidate.

He said Mu’azu misinformed the President on the alleged popularity of the former chairman of the anti-graft commission.

Speaking while hosting members of Northern Youth Vanguard at his residence in Abuja on Saturday, the Ijaw Leader said that he was also surprised when Ribadu visited with a team of a television and radio stations from the South-South(name withheld), asking for his (Clark’s) support.

OBASANJO IS CORRUPT – CLARK

A national Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has called on the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to sack former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the party.
Clark, who spoke with journalists at his residence in Abuja on Friday, accused the former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees of working with the opposition against President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said it was wrong for Obasanjo to be working for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He alleged that Obasanjo was defending Buhari over the N25bn allegedly unaccounted for by the Petroleum Trust Fund, which was headed by Buhari during the military government of the late Gen. Sanni Abacha.
Clark said Obasanjo wants Jonathan to lose the presidential election slated for February 2015.

2015: OPPOSITION COULD KILL JONATHAN TO TAKE OVER GOVT — CLARK

ABUJA—IJAW leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has expressed fears over President Goodluck Jonathan’s safety, preparatory to the 2015 presidential election, saying the opposition politicians could go all out to kill the president in order to be in power.
The elder statesman said recent statements from the party’s chieftains were worrisome, suggesting that they would stop at nothing to harm the president to get to the seat of power.
Clark said this yesterday, in Abuja, at a conference organised by a group under the aegis of Peoples Democratic Party Ward2Ward Initiative.

I’LL NOT RECOGNISE TAMBUWAL AS SPEAKER –CLARK

• Blames Adoke for not writing him to vacate seat
Former federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has hit out at the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) for failing in his duties by not writing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal to vacate his seat after defecting to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Ijaw leader, who said he would not recognise Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives in view of the provisions of Section 68(1) (g) of the constitution wondered why the AGF was finding it difficult to write the Speaker to vacate his seat.
Clark, who blamed the police for the use of teargas on lawmakers at the National Assembly, equally blamed the lawmakers for scaling the fence, saying they behaved like armed robbers.

FOR FREE, FAIR ELECTION IN 2015, JEGA MUST GO —CLARK

Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has insisted that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, must be relieved of his job if free and fair election is to be guaranteed in 2015.
He made the conclusion against the backdrop of creation of additional 30,000 polling units, in which he allotted 22,000 to the North and 8,000 units to the South.
The Ijaw national leader, who said Nigerians had lost confidence in the correctitude of the electoral umpire, described the action of Jega as dangerous to the coexistence and unity of the country.
“Jega’s decision will cause problem in the country. A situation whereby you are creating 30,000 polling units and you have 22,000 to the North and only 8,000 to the South on no basis, is dangerous. That’s why we asked him to resign,” Clark insisted.

HOW I NOMINATED JONATHAN AS YAR’ADUA’S RUNNING MATE – E.K CLARK

Those blind to Jonathan’s good works are living in a different world
He is a man with a plethora of prefixes to his name. Former senator, former federal commissioner, former Midwestern Commissioner, former headmaster among others, but consistent social and political commentator, Chief Edwin Clark, in this gives his role in the remaking of Nigeria, his role in the process among other issues.
The National Conference has come and gone. Many say it was five months of robust discussion. Would you say that the conference was a panacea to Nigeria’s major problems?
I think before we talk about that, the first thing we should go about is to congratulate Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for taking the bold step in convoking that conference which many Heads of State in the past reluctantly refused to convoke for one reason or the other. There were those who were asking for sovereign national conference.
There were others who were asking for national conference. Remember people like Gani Fawehinmi, even Tinubu: these were people who were talking about national conference and for a very long time, nobody cared about it. But when we formed the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, we went to Mr. President, appealed to him on several occasions, argued with him. He had his own case.

RIBADU SHOULDN’T BE GRANTED WAIVER – EDWIN CLARK

Elder statesman and a former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has warned the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party against granting waiver to a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Clark, at an ongoing press conference at his residence in Abuja on Thursday, said Ribadu would be used to betray President Goodluck Jonathan at the end.

He said the former anti-corruption crusader was known for raising false alarm against governors elected on the platform of the party in the past while serving as the chairman of the EFCC.

NOBODY CAN STOP JONATHAN IN 2015 – EDWIN CLARK

A former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan will contest the 2015 presidential election and that nobody can stop him.
He said there was no way another four years of Jonathan’s Presidency would bring an end to the country, adding that all those who had ruled the country before spent two terms.
Clark stated this in Abuja on Friday while playing host to a delegation of Northern Women in Politics under the aegis of “Northern Women Mass Movement for President Jonathan 2015 Ambition.”

He said, “Jonathan will contest in 2015 because of two things; one, he is qualified to do so under the law and secondly, he has performed well to the extent that those who voted him in 2011 are willing to do so again.

OKAH, BROTHER BEHIND MY SON’S ABDUCTION –CLARK

Elder statesman and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark yesterday, accused jailed leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah and his brother, Charles, of being behind the recent kidnap of his son, Ebikeme.
Pa Clark, a delegate to the ongoing National Conference told journalists that Okah and his brother allegedly abducted his son because he refused to join them in waging a war on President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. He dismissed insinuations that the abduction was arranged by the family.
Ebikeme, a father of four was released by his abductors on Sunday after days with his captors.
Shrugging off rumours that the Delta State Government coughed out N500million to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Clark stated that no dime was paid before the release of his son.

CLARK’S KIDNAPPED SON FREED

Ebikeme, son of Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark who was kidnapped last Wednesday has been released by his captors.
Delta State Public Relations Officer, DSP Tina Kalu confirmed that Ebikeme was released Saturday midnight.
Ebikeme was kidnapped at Kiagbodo community in Bomadi.
it was not confirmed if the N50m ransom demanded by the kidnappers was paid.

WHY NIGERIA’LL NOT BREAK UP UNDER JONATHAN’S WATCH—CLARK

Elder statesman and Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark was the guest lecturer at the 7th Distinguished Lecture Series of School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Victoria Island, Lagos, last Wednesday. He spoke on burning national issues including the raging Boko Haram insurgency, war against graft and comments that Nigeria may disintegrate before 2015 among others.
BY IKENNA ASOMBA
CHronicling the history of Nigeria dating back to the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, Clark said that propositions that the nation will disintegrate should be totally disregarded, as what is playing out in the country today is only a tussle for political power.

DOKPESI CAN’T REPLACE OGHIADOMHE – CLARK

Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, declared yesterday that Chairman of DAAR Communications, owners of African Independent Television (AIT), Chief Raymond Dokpesi, was unfit and improper to succeed Oghiadomhe as the chief of staff to the President.
Clark said categorically at a press conference at his Kiagbodo residence in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State that Dokpesi was not a suitable choice as Jonathan’s chief of staff.
He claimed that the antecedents of Dokpesi as an allegedly treacherous character made him unsuitable for the strategically important position, stressing that he was opposed to the DAAR Communications boss being brought into the presidency as a replacement for the former deputy governor of Edo State, Oghiadomhe.

CLARK TACKLES TINUBU, SAYS YOU CAN’T ESCAPE FROM YOUR SHADOW

Accused him of denying Yorubas of political identity, ripping Lagos off
Ijaw leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has upbraided the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, describing him as someone that is afraid of his identity.
Clark also accused Tinubu of denying the Yorubas of their political identity with the formation of the APC.
In a letter addressed to Tinubu by his legal adviser, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, Clark asked the national leader of the APC to answer the following questions: “Why is he not in a hurry to clear questions on his real identity? Is it true that he has no faint trace of the famed Tinubu blood in his veins? Is it true that he is ashamed of his real ancestors and family heritage?

YORUBA HAVE NO LEADERS -EDWIN CLARK

A former minister of information and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday said Yoruba presently do not have a leader, adding that Asuwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other prominent persons now parading themselves as Yoruba leaders can easily be bought over.
Clark who spoke in his Abuja residence during a visit by South-south community leaders, chiefs and elders in the FCT, said since the death of Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Pa Abraham Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige, no Yoruba leader has emerged. According to him, Tinubu and the others are people money can buy, but money cannot buy leadership.
“They think President Jonathan cannot convene a national conference. l still believe in the unity of Nigeria, 100 years has passed and that is why we say let us have a national conference to discuss how we are going to live together in the next 100 years”, he said.
However, Yinka Odumakin, the Afenifere spokesman, in a reaction said the Yorubas have leaders but lack any solitary leader at the moment. “Yorubas have leaders but have no solitary leader at the moment. For anyone to say that some people are purchasable, it is either such people have been bought before or they have a price”, Odumakin said.
Source: Daily Trust

READ CLARK’S LETTER TO OBASANJO

My Dear Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
This indeed is a season of open letters, the session of which you heralded with a contemptuous one to His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Your eldest daughter and a former Senator. Dr. lyabo Obasanjo, feeling uncomfortable with your antics quickly fired a response to your now infamous letter that has gone viral and continue to generate negative national discourse.
President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR, an amiable gentle man to whom you routed your vicious open letter would not tolerate Presidential aides writing nor commenting on your letter, and so ordered a stay of action. He in his characteristic manner of respect and decorum said he would personally reply. I am quite certain that the President did not want to join issues with a benefactor and former President. He would have wanted the charged atmosphere your open letter orchestrated to ride itself out until normalcy and calm return to the polity, as witnessed in other incitive comments by well placed Individuals in the recent past.