Edwin Clarke wants notable politicians arrested

Nnamdi Felix / Abuja

Elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clarke, on Wednesday in Abuja called on the Federal Government to arrest prominent politicians who threatened to make the country ungovernable if Dr Goodluck Jonathan wins the 2011 presidential elections.

Clark, who was a guest at the lecture organized by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies fingered such politicians as those sponsoring the dreaded Boko Haram sect and stated that they should be arrested and prosecuted.

He however did not mention any names.

The Ijaw leader drew a link between the threat to make the country ungovernable and the activities of Boko Haram in the Northern part of the country.

According to him, some prominent politicians vowed to make the country ungovernable if the 2011 election did not reflect the wishes of the people.

“Boko Haram is a political group created by some politicians who have vowed that they will make the country ungovernable if they don’t win the election. The government should have taken care of those who made the statement before now.”

He berated states governors for turning themselves into opposition and described the Nigeria Governors Forum as an opposition political party.

He further accused the Nigerian governor of hijacking the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.

Chief Clarke frowned at the silence of former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (Retired) on the Boko Haram crisis, which according to him, was not golden.

The Ijaw leader also threw a jab at the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Senator Bola. Ahmed Tinubu, whom he described as being rude for calling President Goodluck Jonathan a drunken fisherman and accused past leaders, particularly, the northern governors of creating Boko Haram to destabilize the government of President Jonathan.

According to Chief Clarke, some officers of the party (the PDP) did not have any regard for the chairman and leaders of the party because they were put in place by the governors. “They installed some officers of the party and therefore, some of the officers are not loyal to the leaders of the party.”

He urged the 19 northern state governors to pay more attention to security issues in their states.

Still on the former dictator’s silence on the menace of the Boko Haram Islamic fundamentalist sect, the Ijaw Chief stated that IBB ought to have done said something before now.

“IBB should have spoken on the Boko Haram issue long before now, why has he been silent all these while. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has visited Maiduguri, why has IBB and General Buhari not visited the place?”, He asked.