4 October 2008
interview
Three weeks ago, Chief Edwin Clark was in Abuja, to meet with the federal government on a cease-fire of the oil war declared by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND). In this chat with Saturday Vanguard, Clark explains the issues discussed.
At over 80 years, when your mates were resting at home, you were running about in Abuja for more than a week, mediating between the government and militants. Does it not tell on your health?
I have no choice. If I sit down at the age of 80 and above and I see and I hear that my children are being killed, there is problem in the creeks and everywhere, it will affect my blood pressure. It will rise and that will be the one that will kill me earlier. So the best thing will be to move to see how to stop the crisis. So, it affects me but I have no choice.
What will you say are the gains of the intervention you made, last week after the oil war was called off?
As far as I am concerned, the boys have listened to me. They have come to Abuja, which they have never done before, to have meetings with me and some other leaders to see what to do in order to reduce the tension, in order to maintain the cease-fire, which the JTF refused to accept but I have appealed to them to accept it. Secondly, I was able to take the leaders to see the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and they explained their case, and are ready.
They promised the Vice President that they will not do anything to jeopardize the cease-fire they declared and most importantly, on that Tuesday night, they (JTF) attacked Ateke Tom's camp. He phoned me and we were all there in the meeting and the boys almost went wild.
I appealed to them and this had also been reported to the Vice President and I had a very good meeting with the Minister of Defence and the Secretary to the Federal Government and other leaders came to see me, from the North and other parts of the country.
We had useful discussions because what is going on, if allowed to remain, will spread to other parts of the country and that is not what we want. We should allow the President to do what he wants to do for the Niger-Delta people and I think he has started very well. So, my peace journey to Abuja was successful and I can assure you that apart from the recalcitrant attitude of the JTF people, our boys have not done anything. That is the position, they listened, and I have achieved something.
We understand that you would have collapsed in Abuja if they had resumed the oil war afresh?
Ateke Tom called me and Boyloaf called me that they were going now; that they were going now to assist their fellow leader and I said no, don't do it.
And he said I should phone Ateke Tom to tell him that I have told them to stop and I did. So, they did not go. Coming to your question, nobody envisages the state of his health.
When something happens and frightens you, you can collapse and die, so they are people merely shouting at things that happen. They collapse and die. So, that one I couldn't guarantee whether I would have collapsed or not. That remains with the Almighty God.
Don't you see your recent statement that the JTF would not win the war of the creeks against the militants as inciting, that is provoking the JTF to test its might against the militants?
All that I said was that when you are fighting a people who have reason for what they are fighting for, like the Niger-Delta people who have been neglected for over 50 years, people who have nothing to do, yet the wealth of the nation is brought from their own backyard, people who have no jobs, the youths have no place to go to, have no employment, they now suspect their elders and fathers, and they are now on the driving seat, so if you want to kill them , the JTF will eliminate the whole of the Niger-Delta people because trying to kill some of them, new ones will come out because they are fighting for the future for their own survival.
So, if the JTF thinks that they can go and try their might, the JTF does not exist alone, it is only the Federal Government that orders the JTF to do what they want to do. That is why we are saying, that the JTF should be controlled by their headquarters in Abuja, and not to allow them to use their own selfish interest to kill our people. If I say that the war will not bring peace to area, I mean it, they cannot conquer it.
If that will make them to try it, then they are out to eliminate the people of the Niger-Delta. They will engage in genocide, that's all what they will do.
Did the Minister of Defence give you the guarantee that he would talk to the JTF?
Yes, the Minister of Defence, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed who is now the Secretary to the Federal Government gave the guarantee that he is going to talk to the JTF. He is very well calculated fellow. When I discussed with him, he said he was going to call and discuss with the Chief of Defence Staff and I know he will do it.
Since you came back from Abuja, have you been able to talk to Governor Amaechi?
No, I have not. We were to meet in Abuja but we could not meet and I now promise to go to Port-Harcourt to see him so that we can discuss these issues. I am an old man. I regard him as my political son.
He has come here to see me and I will do nothing that will affect his own interest. So, I will go there to discuss with him, which is what I will do.
Don't you think you are being too hard when you say he should negotiate with militants, knowing his strong objection to that?
A man should not be too rigid. A politician should be careful in judging the situation. I believe that by now, he has realized that his tough stance cannot bring peace to Rivers state. So, he should change his tactics.
He should not find it too difficult to change. The ability to change, ability to change your position is the strength of a leader. A leader should not be too rigid. He should study the circumstances, listen to voice of reason.
Then he would be able to change his tactics, that's is not defeat. It is a sign of good leadership, a sign of magnanimity. So, he should not be rigid, I don't think that will happen.
I understand that the peace talk in Abuja deviated from the issue of how to sustain the cease-fire on the oil war to who heads the Niger-Delta ministry. Is this true and will the Ijaw accept a Niger-Deltan from another ethnic nationality as the Minister of Niger-Delta?
I think it is not true that the discussion we had in Abuja has anything to do with who should be the minister, which is the prerogative of Mr. President who knows who is competent to head the ministry and I should not dabble into such things.
I cannot discuss who should be the minister, who should be the junior minister, which is not my business.
So, Niger-Delta is part of Nigeria. The President knows what to do. All that we can say is that the senior minister I know Mr. President will appoint him from the Niger-Delta, but, who should be the person is not my business. He has his prerogative to do that.
So, there was no time we discussed the issue of who should be minister and who should not be minister. Our discussion was on how to bring peace to the Niger-Delta, how to sustain the cease-fire, that is what we discussed in Abuja.
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