“What type of country to do we belong to? We produce all the resources in this country and for me to benefit from it, I have to travel to Daura in Katsina State to ask for approval for me to benefit from what is being produced in my backyard.”.
Ijaw National Leader and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark, says the contributions of the ijaw nation to the country are not appreciated.
According to him, the Nigerian authorities have made ijaws second class citizens in their own country.
“People do not appreciate what we are doing for Nigeria, what we are providing for Nigeria.
“They control our resources in our backyard, they manage it and at the end of it, they benefit from it and now make us second class citizens in our country. They use our very money to control us,” Clark said.
He wondered: “What type of country to do we belong to? We produce all the resources in this country and for me to benefit from it, I have to travel to Daura in Katsina State to ask for approval for me to benefit from what is being produced in my backyard.
“And if I am lucky they will give it to me with some conditions.”
The Chairman of Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), threatened that the people would soon take their destiny in our own hands.
“We are an oppressed people, I have always said that we will soon take our destiny in our own hands,” Clark said at his residence in Abuja while receiving newly inaugurated Senator representing Bayelsa West, the immediate Governor of Bayelsa, Sen. Seriake Dickson.
Clark, who said he did not to discuss politics since he had just lost his younger brother, Prof. John Pepper Clark (J. P. Clark), also said: “I am happy that you have been elected. As I said when you were coming, I said I’m still mourning, I don’t want to talk about politics yet.
“But politics is in my vein, I cannot see my Senator being inaugurated and for him to come and see me without saying that this is what you are going to do in that place. Time will come after my mourning period, I will speak.
“This country we are is a country for all Nigerians. No one owns it more than the other. We are equal citizens in Nigeria. Unity does not mean you must be superior to the other. Then you won’t have a country. So, you have a duty to perform.”
On the marginalization of the region, Clark lamented that a situation whereby 18 senators representing the zone could not oppose laws/bills that are against the people showed that the zone had not got the right people in the Senate or the National Assembly.
He, however, said Dickson would be an “authentic voice of the Ijaws in the Senate”.
“You have all the qualities to become a senator. I have been one before, I was a senator in the second republic and I was a very important one for that matter.
“I was a member of a select committee which was the most important one in the senate, we were responsible for appointing members of the various committees.
“So, I am happy that you have become the elected senator. I know the duties of a senator if you really want to work for your people.
“It is not enough to be a senator, you must distinguish yourself at all times. That’s why you are called a distinguished senator. I know you will be the voice of an Ijaw man in the Senate,” he said.
“When I wrote that letter about you, I know the area…I was the senator of the whole Ijaw nationality, for the Isokos and Ishekiris. Since then, I have been asking myself when shall we have a senator that will really represent us, speak the mind of the Ijaw man.”
According to him, there cannot be true unity in the country where some see themselves as superior to others.
Dickson had told Clark that the visit was to thank the Ijaw leader for his support in his aspiration to go to the Senate and promised that he would constantly seek his advice and guidance on the issues affecting the Ijaw.
He expressed deep condolences over Prof. Clark’s death, describing it as a big loss to Ijaw nation.
“He was not just an Ijaw or Niger Delta icon, but a rallying point for all the leaders who mean well for Nigeria, noting that he had over the years transformed to represent the demand for a just and equitable Nigerian union.
“You are a living encyclopedia, it’s only a fool who won’t want to continually tap from this available pool of wisdom and knowledge.
“We know that in this COVID-19 lockdown, calamities, flood, the Ijaw nation lost one of one of our best, another father and leader, a pathfinder in his own right but your younger brother, Prof. J P Clark. Today’s visit primarily is to formally condole with you and your family,” Dickson said.
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