THE RANTINGS OF A CONFUSED CLARK.

by Mahmoon Baba-Ahmed .
Chief Edwin Clark, the self-styled Ijaw leader in the South-south zone, was a misguided adviser to his gullible people whose erudition and political shrewdness did not measure up to his expectations of greatness. He served his fatherland innately under a Northern military scion, General Yakubu Gowon but that did not help him imbibe the spirit of unanimity. He subsequently became a tribal jingoist campaigning relentlessly and irascibly for Ijaw rights in the ethnically volatile Niger Delta. 

In 2007 he overtly opposed the re-election of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, his fellow party man, on ethnic grounds. Similarly he rose against the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as the strongman of the south-south politics, blocking his chances of becoming a vice-president, only to shift position and pledge shaky loyalty when his plot failed woefully. Edwin Clark may profess to be burning with the fervor of nationalism, but inwardly he is an extremely unpatriotic, unrelenting supporter of loosening the south-south zone’s federalist ties.

No wonder, therefore, Edwin Clark’s political career has been marked by notoriety, typified by diabolical brinkmanship ostensibly to defame the character of his countrymen. He is a geriatric with imbecilic mindset whose sense of reasoning is deteriorating past. He could therefore not think or act rationally. His speeches are constantly illogical, failing to address the substance, or terribly demeaning his subjects.

In one of his current emotional and imprudent outbursts, Chief Edwin Clark lashed at northern political elites whom he wantonly accused of turning President Goodluck Jonathan into a victim of endless envy and harassment through what he called deliberate ploys to bring him down. He had variously accused the northern governors of playing facilitative role in the emergence of the deadly Boko Haram sect, simply to hound his government. The governors were also indicted of blatant involvement in actions that rendered the national committees of their party ineffective by planting their proxies in key positions. In that way, he said, they had succeeded in hijacking the party and, in cohort with their colleagues in Nigerian Governors Forum, have succeeded setting up parallel hierarchy now acting as opposition appendage. 

That was to be expected because the negative style introduced in running the affairs of the PDP by Chief Clark and his ilk have terribly paralyzed its activities, making it incapable of upholding the tenets of internal democracy, a situation that turned out to be its Achilles’ heel. The ensuing wrangling and recriminations which underscored the degree of disagreement and hostilities, based on religious bigotry and ethnicity within the party’s rank and file, rendered it an object of ridicule, adversely diminishing the importance and political relevance of President Jonathan to that of a clannish idol.

Perhaps the biggest political imprudence that exposed Clark’s absolute lack of wisdom and tactlessness was his unwarranted and spiteful criticism of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida for what he called their brazen indifference in joining the campaign to curb the rising profile of Boko Haram sect in the North. He challenged them to establish their innocence by publicly condemning the activities of the sect. He also wondered why the two northern Generals did not emulate General Olusegun Obasanjo’s immoral and ill-fated gesture by visiting the sect’s enclave to dissuade its leaders and commiserate with their followers. In that case did Chief Clark bother to hassle his reluctant kinsman to understand the imperative of paying instantaneous commiserative visits to all the places in the north incapacitated by the Boko Haram crises? No, he won’t do that! He will even be delighted if the north bursts up in one, huge conflagration.

It is pertinent to point out that the upheavals, occasioned by the regular clashes between dissidents thrown up by social injustice and political immorality on the one hand, and the ill-equipped, ill-motivated security forces under visionless and unfocused administration on the other, are limited only to northern states with predominantly Muslim population. It is also these states that are at the receiving end of the bomb blasts that cause overwhelming damage to the economy. Consequently many cities in those states are now desolate with little or no commercial activities, while learning and other occupations have been severely hampered. In that case the southerners should not be concerned since they have been spared such agonizing experience.

Everyone expected that Chief Edwin Clark will present a workable solution to the insecurity situation in the country with particular reference to the Boko Haram crisis, but instead he came out with disgusting outbursts, attempting to denigrate revered members of northern political class whose innocence, integrity and simplicity he could not reproach. How many times has President Goodluck attempted to genuinely address the perennial problem of terrorism which he approached with levity and apathy? Why is the Federal Government adamant in dialoguing with Boko Haram sect members with the ultimate aim of granting them amnesty to secure peace as had been done with the nefarious Niger Delta insurgents?

Regretting government’s indecision and inaction in dealing squarely with the menace of Boko Haram, Nigerians are now folding their arms in anticipation of the outcome of self government declaration recently by the Ogoni, a leading tribe in the south-south. That could be a fire kindled by controversial Clark to sow a seed of discord between Ogoni and Ijaw in anticipation of truncating Jonathan’s ambition to run in 2015 presidential elections. Incidentally the Ogoni are continually locked in intense rivalry with the dominant Ijaw to which Dr Jonathan and Chief Clark belong. While Edwin Clark is an avowed advocate for the south-south supremacy, including its break up from the federation, Jonathan may not be inclined tolerate any move that will compromise the unity of the country. The stage is now set, and daggers drawn for a bloody duel, between a master and his benefactor, which may end in one stabbing the other in the back. 

Edwin Clark may articulate what he fantasizes about the two northern generals, but it is important for him to know that on so many occasions and at different fora, the duo had unequivocally condemned the activities of the deadly sect, dismissing them as irreligious. It is unfortunate how Chief Clark is starkly ignorant about that development. It seems the only thing to satisfy his imperious ego is a public proclamation about their complicity with the sect. It therefore follows that the venom of pathological hatred poured out by this dissolute tribal chieftain on northern leaders has amplified the ranting of this giant that had transformed into a wretched ant.