The open letter of Elderstates
man and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin
Kiagbodo Clark, to former
President Olusegun Obasanjo,
yesterday, opened a can of
worms in the polity. Eminent
Nigerians who reacted to the 10-
page letter expressed mixed
feelings. While some welcomed
the letter others said it was not
necessary. There were also those
who berated Obasanjo for
opening the flood gates of
exchange of letters, which they
argued portended grave danger
for the polity.
In the letter, Clark lampooned
Obasanjo over his 18-page letter
to President Goodluck Jonathan
where he accused the president
of being clannish, lying over his
re-election ambition, training
snipers and listing 1,000 political
opponents to be dealt with.
Countering, Clark called Obasanjo
a liar, hypocrite, unrepentant
trouble maker, saying that the
Jonathan Administration was not
pro-Ijaw.
Call Clark to order – Junaid
Mohammed
Northern political commentator,
Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday,
asked President Goocluck
Jonathan to call Ijaw leader, Chief
Edwin Clark to order before he
plunges the nation into chaos
with incendiary language.
Mohammed, who was reacting to
the open letter addressed to
Obasanjo by Clark, noted with
dismay the attempt by Clark to
usurp the power of the
presidency and act as if he was
Nigeria’s President.
According to the Second Republic
federal lawmaker, Clark has no
locus standi whatsoever to write
the letter to Obasanjo since the
former head of state did not
address his letter to him.
“Obasanjo raised relevant
national issues in his letter to
Jonathan and did not send it to
Clark or made reference to the
Ijaw leader. If I may ask, on what
basis did Clark write to
Obasanjo?
“I find it extremely irresponsible
and unbecoming of the likes of
Clark to take it upon themselves
to insult international leaders like
Obasanjo for offering some
pieces of advice that Jonathan
should have taken quietly with
humility and thanked the former
president for his admonition,”
Mohammed said, adding, “the
letter written by Clark to
Obasanjo exposes the weakness
of President Jonathan’s
Presidency and calls to question
whether the president or proxies
are in charge of the
administration.”
Clark has right to defend Ijaw —
Ezeife
Third Republic Governor of
Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka
Ezeife said: ‘’Anyone who writes
should be very sure of what he
writes on national issues. It
should involve going down
memory lane to bring out
relevant facts. That is what I
think Edwin Clark has done. As a
leader of the Ijaw people, he has
no choice than to speak out
when the Ijaws were mentioned
in a manner that he did not find
comfortable. He is only trying to
put out the fire, since Obasanjo
accused the President of being
held hostage by his people. It is
not good for us to be allowing
anybody to be throwing darts at
the nation. Such an act reduces
the presidency. Not replying
Obasanjo will mean an insult to
President Jonathan.
It’s time to unmask Obasanjo —
Afenifere
Also commenting on the letter,
Afenifere’s Spokesman, Mr Yinka
Odumakin, commended Clark for
writing the letter and blamed
Obasanjo for the unending saga
of open letters..
He said: “Obasanjo opened the
flood gate of letter writing and
he should know that he is not
the only one who has a pen in
Nigeria. Others who are
knowledgeable about the affairs
of Nigeria like him are definitely
going to comment. I have read
through the letter by Chief E.K
Clark and I think he has served
Obasanjo good measures. I think
the time has come for Obasanjo
to be unravelled and for him to
know who he really is. I give
kudos to Clark for that wonderful
letter.”
Clark’s letter is welcome –Falae
Former Finance Minister and
presidential candidate, Chief Olu
Falae said: “This is a democracy.
If anything is topical, everybody
should be free to comment on it.
There should be no hide and
seek about such matters. If it is
topical and I feel like
commenting, I should be free to
comment. Comments are free,
only facts are sacred.”
OBJ provoked the Ijaws –
Yakassai
Elder Statesman and founding
member of the Arewa
Consultative Forum, ACF, Alhaji
Tanko Yakassi said that former
President Obasanjo should be
blamed because he started the
open letters that seems to be
heating up the polity.
Arguing that Obasanjo provoked
the Ijaw people in his letter to
Jonathan, he said the former
president should have sought
audience with the President
instead of resorting to writing an
open letter.
He advised Obasanjo to defend
himself on the allegations against
him in Chief Clark’s letter, saying:
“I think it is expected because of
the way General Obasanjo
provoked all the Ijaws in writing
his letter to the President. I think
every Ijaw man is entitled to feel
offended. It is none of their
business but they were
provoked. The contents are
natural, allegations have been
made, I think it is up to General
Obasanjo to confirm or to deny.
The responsibility for the heating
up of the polity is that of
Obasanjo, he should have sought
to meet with the President
instead of the open letter.”
A terrible wind is blowing –
Ikokwu
Second Republic politician and
one of the founding members of
the Peoples Democratic Party,
(PDP), Chief Guy Ikokwu,
concurred that Obasanjo should
not have written an open letter
to President Jonathan because
he also had his shortcomings.
His words: “Obasanjo was living
in a glass house. The proverb
says he who lives in a glass
house should not throw stones.
But Obasanjo has been throwing
stones right from the civil war till
date and it has become habitual.
If you throw stones at people
who live in the same house with
you, they will find a way to
retaliate. So, it is not surprising
that his daughter, Iyabo
Obasanjo reacted and now Clark
is reacting.
“Obasanjo is having serious
problems answering or rebutting
the issues that have come up
from these letters. A terrible wind
is blowing and where and how it
will end is not certain. Altogether,
Obasanjo has ruled the country
for about 12 years. He should
have used the opportunity to
transform Nigeria but he failed.”
It’s time to halt the letters –
Uwazurike
President of Aka-Ikenga, an Igbo
intellectual think tank group
called for stoppage of the
exchange of open letters to
enable President Jonathan
concentrate on governance.
His words: “Chief Clark’s letter is
one in a set of letters. Many of us
were not happy with Chief
Obasanjo’s open letter because it
was bound to open floodgate of
letter exchanges, which will not
be about the nation but
individuals. Clark and Obasanjo
were ministers under General
Yakubu Gowon. They are not
strangers to themselves so Clark
has the right to write Obasanjo.
However, these letter writings
should stop; let us allow the
president to lead the country.”
Obasanjo is a confusionist —
Arunsi
Asked his view on Clark’s letter,
Hon. Arua Arunsi, (PDP, Ohafia/
Arochukwu Federal Constituency,
Abia), said: “I don’t agree that
Obasanjo is a trouble maker but I
can say he is a confusionist. He
wants to bring confusion to this
country by writing such letter to
the present Head of State. When
he was there, nobody wrote him
that kind of letter but he keeps
writing to others. To me, he is a
confusionist. And as a statesman,
that is not good for him. When I
made my reactions last time, I
said that Obasanjo told lies
because you cannot talk about
the economy being in shambles
when this economy is growing
at seven percent while his grew
at three percent. So, in this case,
that was a lie. That wasn’t the
truth. So, if Edwin Clark calls him
a liar, well, to some extent, that
may be correct. Yes, I may not
see him as a trouble maker, but
as a confusionist. He wants to
bring confusion to the
governance of this nation.
Ordinarily, what he wrote as an
open letter could have been an
advice even personally.”
Clark is not helping Jonathan –
Mbadiwe
However, Hon. Eddy Mbadiwe,
(APC, Ideato North and South
Federal Constituency, Imo State),
said Chief Clark was not helping
President Jonathan with his
defence..
“ My reaction is that Chief Edwin
Clark is not helping the President
at all. I think he should keep
silent and let time heal the
wounds. I am not sure that
making all these comments will
help the matter in any way.”