Prominent Ijaw leader and former minister of information, Chief Edwin Clark has sensationally dumped the PDP to “become an elder statesman”.
Clark ranked as one of immediate past president Jonathan’s staunchest supporters but as he exited the PDP on Wednesday, he said his former protege lacked the will to fight corruption.
“Jonathan didn’t have the political will to fight corruption. He’s too much of a gentleman. Drivers of yesterday were living in palatial buildings under his government. In advanced countries, when you are living above your means, people query you. That’s not so in Nigeria. Former governors and lawmakers are now asking for immunity,” the Ijaw leader said in Abuja on Wednesday when a group, Think Nigeria First Initiative, paid him a courtesy visit in his residence.
TheCable reports Clark as saying: “Jonathan meant well for this country, but the will power to fight corruption was not there.
“In an ideal society, when a man who earns 20,000 as his monthly salary and all of a sudden he acquire something that is worth N100,000, he should be questioned, but here in Nigeria, immunity has covered those that should be questioned. That is not the kind of country that we want. Being a gentleman is not enough to govern this country.”
According to a statement by PRNigeria, Clark condemned the activities of the insurgent group, saying: “Boko Haram is a problem for all of us Nigerians and we must all fight it together”.
Clark also said all those saying Buhari is pursuing a selective anti-graft war, were wrong and encouraged the president not to give in to blackmail.
Clark declared: “The government has the right to investigate, prosecute and jail corrupt people whether they are Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani or Igbo… corruption is a monster that must be fought.
“Politicians are mostly the most corrupt people in Nigeria. That is why every governor wants to become a senator so that he will continue to enjoy immunity from probe and prosecution for corrupt practices.”
He also implored the president to implement the good programmes initiated by the past administration, adding that “it is not everything done by your opponent that is bad. Select the good ones and implement them and ignore the bad ones.”
Regarding quitting the PDP, Clark said: “I no longer belong to any political party. I am no more in PDP and won’t move to APC. As I almost clock my 90th birthday I will rather continue to advocate for better, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria and die gracefully on Nigerian soil.”
While thanking the TNFI for their courtesy visit, Clark declared his support and encouraged the initiative to keep thinking Nigeria first, ahead of any personal, ethnic or political sentiment.
In his remarks, the director-general of the TNFI, Abubakr Tsani,said the group was nonpartisan, non-religious, non-ethnic support organisation for just causes.
He said it was conceived to midwife sincere channels of reconciling Nigerians and Nigerian state with a view to protect strategic national values against inadvertent distortion of our values.
