Obasanjo Had Only N20,000 In His Bank Account In 1999..Edwin Clarke

South South chiefs, elders and leaders who met in Abuja on Sunday have warned that, “It is mandatory, and not negotiable, for President Goodluck Jonathan to get a second term in office come 2015”.

The meeting also challenged the leaders and elders in the North to stop blaming Jonathan for the festering Boko Haram attacks, but that they themselves (Northern leaders) should find a means of bringing the Boko Haram members to their senses just the way South South leaders curbed the excesses of the Niger Delta militants.

 The event was the 2014 induction/inauguration of the board of Trustees (BoT) of the South-South elders, chiefs and leaders.

 Speaking at the event, Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark, insisted that the rule of natural justice demands that the North supports the second term ambition of Jonathan as the South South had in the past shown loyalty to the North by giving total support to former President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic.

 He noted that the North should not blame anyone for the inability of Shagari to complete his terms, as his second term in office was truncated by a Northerner, Muhammadu Buhari, through a military coup.

 Expressing the desire to ensuring that the agenda to re-install Jonathan in 2015 becomes a reality, the South-South leaders, elders and chiefs mandated its BoT headed by former Inspector General (IG) of Police, Mike Okiro, to drive the process of mobilising support for the President in synergy with the executive committee of the South-community.

 Clark, who is the grand patron of South-South group, said in Nigeria no community is superior to the other, adding that Abuja, which was developed by the South-South money, does not belong to anybody.

 He also took former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the cleaners, saying the former President, described as one of the richest men in Nigeria today, only had N20,000 in his account when he was released from Yola Prisons to contest the 1999 general elections, but that “he’s pretending to be innocent today”.

“I think one of the problems facing us in this country is the issue of settler and indigene. In this country nobody is superior to the other.

“Abuja does not belong to anybody, it belongs to all of us. The money used to develop Abuja came from South-South. Because we are Nigerians, we accepted.

“Nobody owns it more than the other. Anybody is entitled to contest for any election in Abuja. Nobody owns this place.

“The problem with the militants started in 1998. Somebody invited the South-South youths to Abuja and they saw bridges built on land whereas in their waters there are no bridges. They went back and started the militancy.

“Don’t exclude us from the scheme of things, Nigeria belongs to all of us, don’t practice double standard.

“In 1983 we voted en mass for Shagari and he stayed for eight years, it was Buhari who removed him.

“In 1999, they said because of what they did to (Moshood) Abiola, they said they should compensate the South West and Obasanjo was brought out from Yola Prisons and he was only having N20,000 in his account and today he is one of the richest men in Nigeria. And today he is claiming to be innocent.

“We cannot continue to feed this country and we are not ruling the country. When Obasanjo wanted Yar’Adua to become the President he blackmailed everybody.

“Many of the Northerners came to me to say that Jonathan should step down and allow the North to finish their four year-term and I told them you are not well.

“People thought that we from South-South are second class citizens and we say no. When we reply critics, they say we are enemies of Jonathan,” Clark said.

 On the issue of security, former Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Felix Oguado, called on the Northern elders to copy from South-South elders, how they were able to convince the militants in the Niger Delta to drop their arms.

“If the elders in the Niger Delta can go to the creek and speak to the militants and they drop their arms, why can’t the elders of the North do same?

“We should stop blaming the government and do something. It is not the best to apportion blame on the government each time something happened. People talk of sharing the cake, but they never talk of how the cake is baked.

“Our foremost challenge now is Boko Haram. Nigeria is a difficult country to govern. No matter who rules there will always be criticism.

“Like the President said, you cannot dialogue with faceless people. The militants were brought to Abuja and they met with President Yar’Adua,” Oguado said.

 Coordinator of the group and Chairman Planning Committee, Bello Premier, called for the integration of South-South community in Abuja into the mainstream of social political dynamics of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to accord it appropriate recognition as is the case of other regional group.