2015: There Are Plans To Rig Out Jonathan –Edwin Clark Elder statesman and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark is no stranger to controversies. In this interview with GODWIN TSA, the octogenarian did not disappoint Nigerians as he raised some dust while baring his mind on some national issues. He branded the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiu Jega as an ethnic bigot who is secretly playing the cards of his northern oligarchy to rig out President Jonathan in the 2015 general elections. The Ijaw leader did not also spare Gov. Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State as well as the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN). Excerpts: The build-up to the 2015 general elections has started in earnest and politicians are on the field campaigning for votes. As an elder statesman, what would be your advice to politicians? My advice to politicians is that they should play the game by the rules and place Nigeria first as their country in whatever they are doing because they have no any other country to go to. They cannot destroy their own country in order to get into power because they have no any other country to go to. Secondly, it is not a matter of do or die. Politics should be played as if it is a game. Insulting of individuals and government is not politics. They should have their manifestos. It is the manifestos of what you intend to do for the ordinary man in Nigeria that they should sell to the people not to engage in insulting citizens, insulting government or castigating government for no just cause. There should be no ganging up. It will not pay anyone to support insurgence in Nigeria because Mr. President needs their support, the Federal Government needs their support to make Nigeria a greater and peaceful country. A situation whereby the opposition is appeared to be taking side with the insurgents is not patriotic. It’s not like in the United States. In other part of the world, both the opposition and government come together to fight a common enemy. You cannot destroy your country because of your ambition because you have no other country to go to. Politicians should regard themselves as brothers and sisters within one country and whatever they preach should be what they will do for the country and not what they will do for themselves. There should be no bitterness in our politics. You made reference to the opposition supporting insurgency in the country. Do you have evidence to support this claim? Well, I believe that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has been supporting the insurgency. They are anti-government and have not done anything to support the fight against the insurgents but rather, they seem to be supporting them. A situation whereby, the President wants to do anything, to carry out his normal functions, like him declaring his intention to contest the 2015 election, on the previous day you will have this bombing. It is the main aim of the insurgents to prevent Mr. President from declaring his intention, or doing anything, to make him a lame duck and to paralyse his government, this is their intention. So, if on the eve of a particular programme of Mr. President, there are bomb blasts and the president goes ahead with the event only for the opposition to capitalize on it and criticize him, then, it is very unpatriotic. So, it was very unfair for the opposition to say that Mr. President has no sympathy for the dead, that he was dancing on their graves. That was very very uncivilized statement by whoever made it. So, it shows that some of them believe in whatever the insurgents do to frustrate the government, to frustrate the actions and activities of Mr. President and it is not good enough. The opposition should not be seen as encouraging the insurgents and we have seen this even in the National Assembly whereby the opposition is kicking against the emergency declaration in the three states-which I believe is not total. In fact, the state of emergency in these states should be total because the governors of these states particularly Borno and Yobe are anti-government, they are anti-Mr. President so they should not be given chance to encourage or support the insurgents and that is the situation. You made mention of some politicians making uncharitable comments against the President and the government in power. Do you have anybody in mind? They are out there, look at Governor Rotimi Amaechi for instance, but I don’t want to talk about him because he has gone beyond what anybody would think is reasonable. He is trying to please those who are encouraging him to insult Mr. President, those who are encouraging him to be insubordinate to Mr. President. He will have himself to blame. I do not think he is moving in the right direction. All what I believe in is that he is being encouraged to do what is not in the interest of the South-South people and the South-South people have never at any time smelt the offices of the President or the Vice President. And this is the first time they have had the opportunity of presenting a president of Nigeria or being Vice president. If Governor Amaechi is looking for Vice President, we are not looking for a Vice President, we are looking for President which we already got, so the South-South will never at any time support Amaechi for the position of Vice President, we have passed that level, if that is the ambition of Amaechi, that ambition is misplaced. A few people are dancing around him, there is no time the people of Rivers State will support Amaechi against President Jonathan, because they all belong to Rivers State. Governor Amaechi is only thinking of himself because he is not thinking of the people of the Niger Delta who are the minority and who have been neglected for years. I definitely advise Governor Amaechi to retrace his steps. If he is thinking that the people of Rivers State will follow him, he is making a mistake, a few people are following him because he is in office, it will dry up, nobody will in the future think or talk about Amaechi. Let’s look at the build-up to the 2015 general elections. Are you satisfied with the level of preparation by INEC so far? INEC, I have already made my statement. I think it has not done its best. When President appointed Professor Attahiru Jega, he gave us an impression that Prof. Jega was an independent man, Prof. Jega is a neutral man, but we have seen that Prof. Jega is a tribalist who is ready to promote his ethnic nationalism, who does not believe in doing the right thing. We have been always supporting him but his recent atitude particularly his introduction of the 30,000 polling units is not in the interest of Nigerians, it shows clearly who Prof Jega is. The 30,000 units should have given the North an advantage, whereas in the whole of the South, it gives them only about 8000 units. So, in another words, the North has about 75 per cent polling units and the South with only 25 per cent or even 15 per cent based on no scientific or approved method. We are saying that the number of registered voters in Nigeria as a whole is about 73 million but after the audit or verification exercise, the number was reduced to 67 million, that shows that there was no basis for introducing the creation of additional polling units because there was no way the 30,000 polling units was going to assist the voters. The idea that certain polling booths in certain areas have about 3,000 voters is not realistic, we have not been told where those voters are located. So for one to imagine that the whole of the South should be given 8000 polling units and then the FCT which is not as big as Anambra State should have almost the same number of extra polling units is an insult and a fraudulent practice. We have to watch Jega carefully even in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards [PVC], people are already crying that certain areas are being favoured against certain areas. So, I’m calling on all Nigerians to be very much vigilant and I am also calling on INEC Commissioners both at the federal and state levels to be more vigilant and not to give Jega the executive powers he thinks he has. The Electoral Act does not provide for that, it is Jega who is trying to be the Executive Chairman of INEC but he is not. His position has already been made clear to him by the Attorney General of the Federation that Jega is not holding an executive position, that whatever decision he takes must be in conference with the commissioners. But in most cases, Jega is acting on his own. He has no right to query the state commissioners because they are not under him. They are not employees of the commission, so it is very unfair and arrogant of him to query state commissioners for not carrying out the illegal 30,000 polling units he wanted to impose on the people. So, we should be very vigilant as to what Jega will do in the next five months. The new polling units created by Jega are not only a security risk, it will cause problem in this country. A situation whereby you are creating 30,000 new polling units and you gave about 22,000 to the North and only eight thousand to the South, on no basis, such a thing is dangerous. That is why we asked Jega to resign. I wrote him a letter on the issue but he carried on. So, there is a secret agenda. I know most of the Northern leaders are not in support of what he is doing. If you are doing something of which the people no longer trusts you, you should find your way out. He is a political scientist. He was a vice chancellor of a university. He should go. You are one of those in the forefront campaigning passionately for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term. Are you not worried about the multiple court cases challenging his eligibility to contest for the office of the President? It is all politics. It’s a gang-up, pure and simple, but they will fail. Let me tell you, Jonathan is very qualified to contest for second term in accordance with the Nigerian constitution. Section 137 of the Nigerian constitution says that for a man to be disqualified you must have contested two elections, for eight years you have been in office. Jonathan had contested for the office of the President only once. You will recall that after the demise of the late President Musa Yar’Adua, Jonathan was sworn in. That swearing in has nothing to do with the normal swearing in after an election. This was a case of emergency. That is why a vice president usually contests an election along with a President so that if you lose one tyre, the second will come in. That period is not counted in the constitution. This is what happened in America. It is not true to say Jonathan contested an election with Yar’Adua and when he contested 2011 he had completed his two terms. If we are following America constitution which we are copying, we see that Algore served as Vice President with Bill Clinton and after their administration ended, he wanted to contest on his own and he lost the election to George Bush. That was what happened. In Nigeria, people want to do things which will create problem for the country. I told northern leaders that four years was not enough for Jonathan to accomplish his programme. Also, remember that the northerners have been ruling this country for over 40 years and nobody is worried. Are we second class citizens in this country? No. Everybody is equal. Whatever they are doing they will not succeed. God is behind Jonathan. He will succeed in 2015. You will agree with me that the present insecurity situation in the country is worrisome. Do you think President Jonathan is doing enough in this area? To be honest with you, these are trying times for the nation and it calls for national patriotism and unity. What is happening in Nigeria is a national issue. Nigerians are being killed day by day. Although terrorism is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, it’s a global thing, Nigeria is only having a share of it, that is why we all have a duty to look into this issue and not to play politics with a national calamity. It is not a Jonathan thing because he cannot fight it alone. That is why I am calling for total declaration of emergency in the affected states. The call by you and your group for a total declaration of emergency rule in the three affected states has received criticism especially from top Northern politicians. Is your call still justifiable at this point in time? My call for full emergency rule is very well justified and there is no sentiment about it. Recall that I personally wrote a 16- page letter to the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) for misleading Mr. President on the declaration of a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states and I told him that he failed to advise the President to take the bull by the horn by declaring full emergency rule in those states and I stand by that letter. Now let me answer your question. The President has the right to impose a full state of emergency in these states as it were in the past when former President Olusegun Obasanjo declared full state of emergency in Plateau State, May 18, 2004 and in Ekiti State, October 19, 2006. The first state of emergency in Nigeria was in 1962 when the Premier of the Western region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola was suspended from office and Chief Adegbenro was appointed to take over and with this, the then Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa called for a special session of the Federal Parliament in Lagos on May 29, 1962 where a motion for a state of emergency was tabled. I affirm that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for democratic structures. It is based on this law as enshrined in the Constitution that individuals hold their offices. This Constitution equally gives the President of the country undefined spectrum of inherent powers which he can exercise if and when such action is in public interest. However, in order to forestall any arbitrary use of such powers, the National Assembly is empowered to act as a check. For emphasis, a state of emergency is a governmental declaration that announces that the country is in a state of emergency. It allows the suspension of and/or change to some functions of the executive, the legislative and or the judiciary during this period of time. It alerts citizens to change their normal behaviour and orders government agencies to implement emergency plans. A government can declare a state of emergency during a period of civil unrest, or following a declaration of war or situation of international/ internal armed conflict, among others. A state of emergency is invoked in an extra-ordinary situation which requires extra-ordinary measures. The extra-ordinary measures arising as a result of the state of emergency declared can also affect those rights and freedoms which are guaranteed under the Constitution. There is no doubt that my call for a full emergency rule has become necessary considering the present situation. It is sad to note that some public officers appointed by Mr. President have negated their duties and are not interested in replying or confronting the insults and abuses poured on Mr. President because most of them regard themselves as technocrats and not ready to offend any of his political opponents. Emergency rule is legal, constitutional and procedural, and remains the panacea to peace, development and national rebirth, not adhering to it, is courting anarchy. The President needs to suspend the affected states’ political structures because the roles of these governors have revealed them as conspirators who are hiding under the guise of opposition, to foster their political nests and display their politics of bitterness, hatred, ethnicity and religion to disparage him and scuttle Jonathan’s constitutional right to seek a second term as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution. So, I told the minister (Adoke) that even if he believed that his interpretation of section 305 (3) is the correct interpretation, he should know fully well that Mr. President in exercise of his inherent powers, can use other extra-ordinary measures to bring the insurgency to an end, and the doctrine of necessity is definitely one of the extra-ordinary measures. These facts as Attorney General and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria are well known to him as alternative measures available to Mr. President to crush the insurgents, but for reasons best known to him, he failed to advise him to take the bull by the horns. Are you not afraid that any of the presidential candidates that emerges from the opposition party-APC has what it takes to give President Jonathan a run for his money at the presidential poll? Well it is not for me to say who among them is competent to face Mr. President. Mr. President has done a lot for this country unheralded by many people. Is it in the field of roads, 10 years ago the roads that exist in Nigeria today were not there. Today, the express road to Ibadan or from Lagos to Ibadan is being constructed by notable contractors employed by the Federal Government. The road from Shagamu to Benin has been re-constructed. You can now drive from Lagos to Benin in less than three hours or three hours. The East-West road will soon be completed and the express road from Enugu to Port Harcourt is being taken care of. What about the railways? Ten years ago, there was no railways functioning in Nigeria, today, you can travel on railway from Edo to Kano. The new railway line from Abuja to Kaduna will soon be completed. The rail line from Port Harcourt to Makurdi will soon be ready. So, what are they [opposition politicians]to offer to the people, there is nothing? The anxiety is for them to come to office, they are not thinking of Nigeria, that is the position. They talk about corruption, the eradication of corruption, most of them are very corrupt and Mr. President is doing all he could to see that corruption is eradicated. The institutions established to fight corruption, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Offences Commission (ICPC) must be strengthened to bite stronger, if the headship of these organisations are not working, they should be removed. Nigeria has to move forward. You do not expect Mr. President to institute inquiries into who is corrupt and who is not. These are the functions of the institutions. So, if ICPC, EFCC or the fraud unit of the police are not performing their jobs, then they should be re-organised or reinforced so that they can carry out their duties. Talking about corruption, Nigerians are saying the President is not doing well in the fight against corruption. They say his administration is the most corrupt. What is your position on this? That is not true, Mr. President is doing well in the area of corruption. Is he not the one who sacked the Minster of Aviation, Stella Oduah? Are there no other people who are facing trial? The son of former PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur is facing trial. Ahmadu Ali’s son is facing trial; he too is a leader of the party. He has curbed corruption in the distribution of fertilizers to farmers. Look, people are not looking at the positives. If a man has done all those, what do you say? Corruption in Nigeria has been there for years. Some of the governors who are now Senators have been facing trials before Jonathan became president. Were they corrupt during his time? Corruption has been in this country over the years. Apart from the time of military, which was also corrupt, since 1999 till today, there has been corruption. You know I have been crying against it; that is why I didn’t say people are not corrupt in Jonathan’s government. People are corrupt, but the problem we are facing is that Jonathan has created institutions to investigate this corruption, but most of them are not being investigated. They go to court and the court could not deal with them and Jonathan cannot interfere with the court. Even in the National Assembly, is there no corruption there? Let me say this today, I don’t care; I am old. When the police were looking for Dimeji Bankole, the former Speaker to arrest him over corruption, didn’t the present Speaker, Tambuwal and his deputy go to sleep in the hallowed chambers of NASS to avoid being arrested too? Are you not aware? Was it Jonathan who caused it? The Sun.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 10:23:50 +0000
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