Clarke also berated those who had in recent time made similar statements, most importantly, his kinsman and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, saying such statements were irresponsible.
Clark, a former Federal Commissioner of Information, told Sunday Sun in an interview in Abuja that he wouldn’t have liked to reply Junaid Mohammed because “He is a very irresponsible person who has no regard for decency and behaves like a man who is a hired thug to say whatever he likes, to do whatever he likes.
The constitution of this country makes it possible for Jonathan to contest election in 2015. A section of the constitution says that before you can be disqualified as a presidential candidate or aspirant, you must have contested two elections and won the two elections and rule for eight years and thereafter, you will be disqualified.
“Jonathan has only contested election once in 2011 and he will be entitled to contest another one in 2015. That is the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nobody else can change it. No sentiment can change it, no power can change it. The mere fact that half of the population of Nigeria comes from a particular area is not enough to deprive others from holding that position. Nigeria is not the first. People like Junaid should be reading papers, should listen to what is happening in other parts of the world,” the foremost Ijaw leader said.
Clark also took a swipe at the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his statement on the proposed national conference, saying “Tinubu is arrogating to himself the leadership of the Yorubas”. He also warned Tinubu on corruption, saying “Tinubu knows what is happening. He should not allow some of us to open our mouths. He talks about corruption, we know those who are corrupt in this country. So, they should allow the sleeping dog to lie.”
Excerpts:
Second Republic Member of the House of Representatives, Dr Junaid Mohammed, said last Sunday that if President Goodluck Jonathan contests in 2015, there will be bloodshed and those who feel shortchanged may take the war path and the country may not be the same again. He also said Jonathan’s running would amount to taking 85 million northerners for a ride, saying it is half of the country’s total population. What’s your reaction?
Ordinarily, I shouldn’t have liked to repond to Junaid Mohammed’s comments because he is a very irresponsible person who has no regard for decency. He behaves like a hired thug and says whatever he likes. Junaid has no constituency. I remember he won an election on the platform of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) into the House of Representatives many, many years ago and when he lost, he went to the Niger Delta where Jonathan hails from to be an employee, to look for bread and butter in the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), an organization set up with the oil that flows from the backyard of the people he is referring to. Since he left, he has been doing nothing but mainly whipping up sentiments, mainly inciting people against government. So, I should not have liked to reply to such an irresponsible person.
However, blood will not flow if Jonathan contests election in 2015. There are laid down principles. The constitution of this country makes it possible for Jonathan to contest election in 2015. A section of the constitution says that before you can be disqualified as a presidential candidate or aspirant, you must have contested two elections and won the two elections and rule for eight years and thereafter, you will be disqualified. Jonathan has only contested election once in 2011 and he will be entitled to contest another one in 2015. That is the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nobody else can change it. No sentiment can change it, no power can change it. The mere fact that half of the population of Nigeria comes from a particular area is not enough to deprive others from holding that position. Nigeria is not the first. People like Junaid should be reading papers, should listen to what is happening in other parts of the world. The present president of the United States of America, Obama, is from the minority in the United States of America. As far as Junaid is concerned, he is not qualified to contest the presidency in America. That is the shallow thinking of people like Junaid. This country belongs to all of us. God created everybody equal and no one is superior to the other. No one is a first class citizen and no one is a second class citizen in this country. Even Lord Lugard who amalgamated the north and south of Nigeria did not say certain people were second class citizens and others were first class or only certain people should rule and others would be followers.
But let’s reflect a little. In 1979, our most respected president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, contested election. I was present when he was elected the presidential candidate at the cinema, in Yaba, Lagos. In 1983, he was ready again to contest. There were many men of timber and caliber who could have contested with him at that time. Nobody did. We all supported him. I was a very keen member at that time of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The same ambition or greed made Buhari and his colleagues to wander from the army to government and removed Shagari for no just cause. Nobody from the south prevented Shagari from ruling for eight years.
In 1999, Obasanjo became the president of Nigeria. In 2003, he contested again for a second term. Blood did not flow, Nigeria did not split. It was when he wanted a third term that Nigerians said no.
Yar’Adua was elected for four years in 2007 and he was ready to contest again in 2011, but unfortunately, he died. The same northerners, including my very good friend, Alhaji Tanko Yakassia, said the northerners were looking for a second term for Yar’Adua. If Yar’Adua was entitled to eight years, why is Jonathan not entitled to eight years?
So, if Junaid is saying that blood will flow, blood will not flow. Nigeria will remain united, Jonathan will contest election and would win if he performs to the satisfaction of Nigerians. No individual can make a president. The Ijaws alone cannot make him, the Hausas alone cannot make him, the Yorubas alone cannot make him and the Ibos alone cannot make him. A combination of all Nigerians will. The north alone cannot present a candidate in Nigeria. They cannot! So, no one should arrogate to himself the power to present a candidate at all times. It’s not fair.
Let me go further. Several northerners have made similar statements and Asari Dokubo has also made such statements. These are irresponsible statements. A former governor of Kaduna state, Isa Kaita, said there will be no Nigeria if a northerner does not become president of Nigeria. Adamu Ciroma, another very respected northerner, also made the same statement. General Buhari said Nigeria will become another Somalia if a northerner was not elected. Asari Dokubo said the same thing and I replied, blood will not flow, Nigeria will remain as it is. Jonathan has always wanted free and fair election. One man, one vote; one woman, one vote. He said he would not like anybody to be killed because of his election and he has not retracted that statement. So, we want a Nigeria where every Nigerian is capable of aspiring to the highest position. That is the message. So, I am appealing to all Nigerians. The majority of northerners are not thinking like Junaid who is a very irresponsible man who comes from Kano and cannot win his ward in Kano.
He also said the clamour for power to return to the north in 2015 is not just coming from the north alone. That there abounds more agitators in the south-west than in the north. Is that true?
Well, if he is speaking on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC), I can understand. Who are the south-west people? Tinubu is also arrogating to himself the leadership of the Yorubas. He is not. The Yorubas know who will be their leader. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a Yoruba leader, Ajasin was a Yoruba leader, Abraham Adesanya was a Yoruba leader. The Yorubas have not elected another leader and no one can speak on behalf of the Yorubas.
For instance, I am very familiar with the Yorubas. I have been holding meetings with them. Majority of them would like whoever is qualified to rule Nigeria. So, it is not true that south-westerners are against Jonathan and they would like a northerner to be the president. That is the imagination of Tinubu and his gang.
In the same interview, he also said Lagos alone accounts for 45 percent of the nation’s economy adding that the south-west cannot fold its arms and watch one irresponsible and incompetent leader to plunge the country into avoidable political violence. What do you think?
Again, that is a very irresponsible statement and it’s not true. Today, the south-south or what you call the Niger Delta, produce about 90 percent of the revenue of this country and that is very clear. That is why under Section 162 of the constitution and under the federation account, the people in whose area the revenue is produced are entitled to 13 percent of the total revenue derived from this nation. Lagos does not enjoy that. What does Lagos produce? The only thing that comes from Lagos is perhaps revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) and the same Lagosians accused some northerners that you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, why do you want to share in the VAT revenue? It is not the south-south people saying that. It is the same Tinubu that has been saying so. Now that he wants to be the leader of APC, has he changed his mind? This same Tinubu was in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and has been preaching sovereign national conference. The Yorubas are the originators of sovereign national conference or national conference. But because Jonathan has made that statement and said that he would convoke a national conference, it is no longer acceptable to Tinubu. This country does not belong to Tinubu alone. Today, Tinubu knows what is happening. He should not allow some of us to open our mouths. He talks about corruption, we know those who are corrupt in this country. So, they should allow sleeping dog to lie.
Junaid also said the president is playing with the destiny of this country and called on him to stop doing that. What is your reaction to that?
I don’t understand what he means by that. Playing on the destiny of who? Whose destiny? Are we not part of this country? So, I don’t understand what he is talking about. In what way? You tell me, what does he mean by that? Nigeria has only one destiny and we are all tied to that destiny. How can Jonathan be playing with the destiny of Nigeria? In what way? Is it economically? Is it politically or socially? Jonathan is a Nigerian. That statement is meaningless.
He also said that the three criteria globally used to measure preference for a leader are competence, integrity and acceptability and that the president lacks these. What’s your take on this?
Who is Junaid to talk about peoples’ criteria for presidency? Has he any of these qualities? Has he integrity? Let him say so.
Let me take the first one, competence. President Jonathan is the first Nigerian president that has a doctorate degree. He did not buy it. It was not awarded to him like some of us had our own honourary degree for service to the nation. Jonathan has a very good first degree from the University of Port Harcourt, has a second degree, has a third degree by examination. Junaid went to the east in those days when he had no regard for eastern education . He cannot compare himself with Jonathan. Jonathan is competent. He is not making noise. Is that a defect? Jonathan, on May 29th this year, produced a mid-term report of what he has done for Nigeria. Today, Jonathan has streamlined elections in Nigeria. Elections were held freely in Edo, Ondo and even Anambra. It is one of those things Jonathan is being praised for.
Number two, everybody knows we are suffering from in adequate power supply in this country, how we have been held to ransom by the workers over the years and attempts made by various heads of state in this country and presidents to privatize the power sector.
No one was able to do it because of the position by the workers. Today, power has been privatized in Nigeria by Jonathan. Is that competence or incompetence? Today, the federal government is no longer spending money on power. We are now enjoying power from the private sector.
For the past 20 years, we have never had a train running from one place to the other. Today, there is train running from Iddo station in Lagos to Kano, Junaid’s city. Within the next three months, the same train will run from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. Is that incompetence or competence?
Today, every state in this country has a federal university. Within one year, Jonathan established 12 federal universities and he is maintaining them. Is that incompetence or competence?
Roads are being built. The contract for the rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been awarded to two or three competent contractors and they are working. Is that incompetence or competence? The 2nd Niger Bridge is going to be built by the federal government. Why is he incompetent? Is it because he has not given people money to be shared in the hotels? He has not given jobs to people who are not qualified to do them. It is a very stupid statement.
Junaid has no integrity.
So, what you don’t have, you think other people don’t have it. He cannot measure his integrity with that of Jonathan. Jonathan has integrity. He is not corrupt. Yes, he may not have been able to deal decisively with corruption. He has not been able to arrest those who should be arrested in this country, who are parading themselves as leaders of this country. Some of them have no certificates. So, he has integrity and he believes that a lot of Nigerians have integrity.
Junaid said Jonathan is not acceptable to the generality of Nigerians today. Is he right….?
(Cuts in) How can he measure that ? Jonathan in 2011, despite opposition from Junaid’s state where he scored only 19 percent, had the votes of the generality of Nigerians with over 22 million votes. Nigerians accepted him! They voted for him. The 2015 presidential election will be decided by the same Nigerians if Jonathan has performed creditably to their satisfaction and not Junaid. He has only one vote. The same Nigerians will vote for Jonathan in 2015 and he is performing. Let Nigerians decide and not the crooked Junaid and other people who believe that they are superior to other Nigerians. We are very happy that majority of northerners do not believe in Junaid. He is an irresponsible fellow.
The Sun
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