allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Clark, Nwaoboshi Battle Over Delta PDP (Page 1 of 2)

THE chairman of the Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barrister Peter Nwaoboshi and party chieftain and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark have exchanged strong words over genuine membership of the party with Nwaoboshi saying he was fed up with the antics of his critics led by Clark.

Clark in a riposte accused the new PDP chairman in Delta State of playing ostrich in his bid for political survival accusing the new party helmsman of abandoning the struggle and teaming up with his former foes in the new Government.

Rebuffing the endorsement of the Nwaoboshi led executive by the Vincent Ogbulafor led national executive as a bargain won for it by the immediate past Governor, Chief James Ibori, Clark vowed that his group was taking its appeal to President Umaru Yar'Adua to upturn the decision.

Nwaoboshi declared categorically that he respected Clark simply on account of his age but dismissed his followers as charlatans hiding under his cover to gain relevance. He claimed that the insurgency against the party mainstream was being stoked by four aspirants in the last PDP gubernatorial primaries who he accused of being bad losers.

Clark and Nwaoboshi spoke in separate interviews with Sunday Vanguard weekend.

Clark and his supporters are not PDP members - Nwaoboshi

HOW do you respond to the action by Chief Clerk and his group opposing the decision of the PDP national secretariat to endorse your executive?

I can tell you that a majority of them in that group are not PDP members. I don't know when he joined PDP, you may have to ask him, when did he join PDP?

There are no two PDP in Delta State, there is only a group of agitators, most of them are not PDP members, PDP is one. All the members of the National Assembly from Delta State are with me, all the members of the State House of Assembly in Delta State are with me, all the former and present party chairmen in the local governments are with me.

But they keep on raising issues

They make noise in the newspapers, they talk in the newspapers, they are a group of agitators.

We have tried to have permanent peace with them, but they have refused to obey what is called party discipline.

Most of them are not PDP members, we told them at the national secretariat that most of them are not PDP members and we have evidence to show that they are not PDP members. Where was Chief E.K. Clark in 1999 when the party was being formed?

Where was he in 2003? We just chose not to join issues with him out of respect for his age, not that, politically, E.K. Clark can do anything to anybody, we are just respecting his age and because age is something people are bound to respect.

All those people there are noise makers, all of them, we only respect people like E.K. Clark and many of the agitators are hiding, using his influence to be talking. We only respect the man for his age, respect him because everybody aspires to get to that kind of age, that is all that we look up to in him, not that we are fearing that they have anything to do, they cannot influence any election in Delta.

Exasperated?

I believe in the concept of party discipline. You have made your point before the national chairman and national working committee, the national working committee has given their verdict, you don't have to go to the pages of newspapers to cast aspersion on the national executive of the party. It shows lack of discipline. It is only respect that we are respecting Chief E.K. Clark.

It is not that anybody in PDP in Delta State is fearing that he has anything to do to the success of the party in Delta, is only we are respecting his age and believe that at that age, he is an elder-statesman and he should be respected. But not that Chief E.K. Clark and his group can influence for or against the success of the PDP in Delta State.

We respect Chief E.K. Clark as an individual but I can tell you that, minus him, there is nobody in that group that can make any influence in an election in Delta State. we only respect him.

The local government election is coming up on Saturday, if they have influence, let them test it out in the field. I feel provoked that the national working Committee of the party has taken a decision and you still go on the pages of the newspapers to cast aspersion, it shows lack of discipline. I am a product of a disciplined party, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), where we were taught to be disciplined and obey the rules and regulations and to respect party hierarchy.

But if you feel you can intimidate, nobody can intimidate PDP in Delta State and, of course, I am not somebody that can be intimidated. They know me, they know my pedigree, I am not somebody that can be intimidated, nobody. I respect human beings, but I don't fear any human being in this world. I respect human beings.

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