Elder statesman and former Minister of Information Chief, Edwin Clark, insists that he remains a member and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State. He told Odita Sunday in his Kiagbodo home that his grouse with the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, is based on principles and nothing else. Excerpts:YOU are the rallying point for the PDP in Delta. Why did you abandon the party for the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP)I am still a PDP man; I am still a leader in the PDP and nobody can take it away from me. In Delta, Niger Delta and the national level I remain a PDP leader. The confusion is that my son who is 41 years old joined the DPP. He wanted to buy PDP forms and he wanted to go for the House of Representatives but he was refused the forms at Asaba. He bought the forms from PDP headquarters in Abuja. The Headquarters instructed Delta chapter to screen him; he paid N500, 000 before he was screened, but unfortunately, the day the primary was held in my village about 100 meters from my house, my son was not invited. Even when he went there, he was not allowed to go in. He returned and told me what transpired. Thereafter he decided to join DPP. As a father, I owe him a duty to support him. That was what I did and that was why they rigged the election in order to spite me. They wanted to lower my esteem as a PDP leader but they wont succeed. I just kept quite because of the presidential election, and now that it is over, I will speak. There was no election in Burutu.What is your stance on the insistence of Delta North, a zone that expects to produce the governor of the state in 2015The people of Delta North sold their birthright. They betrayed themselves thinking that the State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan would handover to them in 2015. They refused to participate in what is going on now, which is to chase away Uduaghan. Nobody, not even President Goodluck Jonathan has the power or authority to hand over power to any one particular section. For example, we have seen how Nigerians decided the next president. So also, the people of Delta will decide who will be the governor in 2015. It is not the prerogative of Uduaghan. Even if it is going to be by zoning, the people will decide. Who zoned power to Delta South If James Ibori had not imposed Uduaghan on us, who says it was not the turn of Delta North They should not think Uduaghan will handover power to them; it is an issue concerning all of us in Delta.How would you assess the elections so far, especially in DeltaAfter the last National Assembly elections, the enthusiasm became high. Everybody was eager to vote. I discovered that although parties have their candidates, many people turned out to vote for the candidates of their choices and not the party. Those who have no party affiliation also came out to vote. In the presidential election people came out to vote; security was high. But I noticed that special attention was paid to the upland while no attention was paid to the riverine areas. It was difficult to understand that. Electoral materials did not arrive on time everywhere in the swampy area. We had it difficult in the creeks. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should pay special attention to the riverine areas so that there will be quick delivery of electoral materials and sufficient security provided. There is not much difficulty on the land.Were you aware of the situation in Delta North where a returning officer alleged that he was forced at gunpoint to announce a particular result after the National Assembly electionIt was very unfortunate. I was at Benin Airport after voting where I saw Ambassador Chiejine and he was in bandage. He told me that someone in Accord Party sponsored a candidate against his party, the PDP. And they beat him because he warned that they should allow the electorate vote for their choices. He was rushed to the hospital. One Dr Okubor from Ika corroborated the story. The matter was reported to the Deputy Inspector General of Police and he was told that the election was not free and fair in Ika North. The idea that people must be in the National Assembly at all cost is not right. These are issues for INEC to decide.The idea of a returning officer announcing a result to prevent INEC from investigating the matter again is unfortunate. There are some cases that have been in the Election Tribunal for over three years. The House of Representatives election in Isoko, Ndokwa West, Sapele was bloody. It was unfortunate. As a result of this, I understand that some of the elections were inconclusive. My son, Ebikeme, wanted to go for the House of Representatives for Burutu Federal Constituency and what they did in Delta North is the same thing they did in Burutu. There were no elections in these areas. We had a situation where people did not try to vote, but they rigged the election and carried away ballot boxes. PDP chieftains, who forced the electoral officers, besieged a community called Okpojunor, forced them into their boats and took them to their enclave where they stuffed ballot papers into the boxes before they brought them back. There were other cases in Delta North where people were killed. In Isoko, thugs took over all the ballot boxes. These things should not be allowed to occur again on April 26. Security operatives should take note; otherwise, it will be repeated.What has been your relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan since the crisis in Delta PDP beganThe PDP crisis in Delta is internal; it has nothing to do with Jonathan. I am in contact with him. I spoke with him a couple of hours before he cast his vote. He knows I am in Kiagbodo and he told me he was in Otueke. Nothing has affected my relationship with him. Uduaghan is saying that unless I support him, I will not succeed; I am not supporting him. There are two elections, the presidential and gubernatorial. Anybody saying that because I am criticising Uduaghan, I am not supporting PDP or Jonathan, is a liar. I mustered support for Jonathan. I am one of those in the forefront to elect Jonathan president and it is not because he is from the Niger Delta. We know that since independence, the people of South-South geopolitical zone had never been president or Head of State. We could not even produce a Vice President until Jonathan came in. So we went to Calabar on October 1, 2005, where we made a declaration that the South-South must have a president. And that is why we have people like Dr. Peter Odili, Donald Duke, and Admiral Mike Akhigbe among others trying to become president. They indicated their interest to contest as leaders of South-South. I sent a delegation across the country and nobody opposed it. Luckily, Jonathan was made the Vice President and all other things that transpired were the handiwork of God. I am pro-Jonathan anytime, any day and nobody can change it. Jonathan is a quality leader.You have always criticised the performance of UduaghanUduaghan is worse than Ibori. In 2006, at a congress in Ogwashi-uku, Ibori deceived everybody saying that he dreamt when God told him to replace himself with his cousin. He called about five governorship aspirants in Asaba but they said no. He said whether they like it or not, it will happen. Chief Obienum, Ovie Omo-Agege and Pius Ewerhido, among others wanted to be governor. He frustrated them all. Uduaghan was imposed on us. On January 29, a meeting was held. Everybody at the meeting rejected Uduaghan and we carried our protest to Abuja. We met former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and Nuhu Ribadu. We told them how Ibori was imposing Uduaghan on us. Immediately, Obasanjo was given enough fund from Delta resources to prosecute the election of the late President Musa YarAdua, he changed. He assisted Ibori to impose Uduaghan on us. Obasanjo and Ibori are the cause of the division in PDP since 2007. And to make matters worse, Uduaghan has not performed. There is evidence of Uduaghan covering up the misdeeds of Ibori. For instance, when in 2007, the EFCC attempted to arrest Ibori, Uduaghan who should be protecting everything that is for Delta, went to court to obtain injunction, refraining EFCC from arresting Ibori and not to touch any document pertaining to Ibori.Our shares were sold in Oceanic Bank, 800 million shares bought by the Delta government. These shares were mortgaged to Intercontinental Bank as security for a private loan of N44 billion to Ibori who used the money to buy an oil servicing company. When the bank asked for the loan to be serviced, Ibori sold five million of the shares to service the loan. I confronted Uduaghan, and he said there was nothing he could do about it.Having said that, Uduaghan has his own misdeeds to answer for. We all saw what happened in Asaba Airport where he brought a six-seater aircraft to do a test-run, deceiving everybody. This is an airport whose runway has not been finished. All the buildings in the airport are yet to be completed. The man has spent N20 billion on it.. I challenged him to bring the aircraft again.The dualisation of Asaba-Ughelli road is another case in point. About three contractors have been contracted including the same contractor that is building the airport. They all collected billions of naira. He gave them money and the people have not put a bulldozer on the road.We have a governor whose first cousin has been extradited to London; Iboris sister is jailed 58 years, whose cousins wife, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori has been jailed for five years; Udoama, Iboris mistress has been jailed for five years. The list goes on. Today, we are in debt in Delta; I am expecting him to resign for his family has done us wrong. The people of Delta dont want the Ibori dynasty to continue.
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