The dust generated by the Ijaw national leader, and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark over issues raised against the Delta state Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, bothering on the questionable deployment of the 13% derivation and his mercurial emergence as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is far from being settled.
An indication to this came to light at the weekend when Okowa in a swift reaction to the allegations, evaded the issues raised but resort to “attack” the personality of the Elder statesman by the deployment of Uncouth vocabularies that seemed to demean the hard earned personality of Chief Clark .
But in the unfolding crossfire, PANDEF issued a 48hours ultimatum to Okowa to retract what it perceived as an orchestrated “attacks”‘ on the national leader.
It would be recalled that at a recent press conference, the Elder statesman who was deeply disturbed by the state of affairs in Delta state, described Okowa’s administration ” as a reign of unaccountability,” and urged the Governor, to as a matter of dignity and necessity to step down as the running mate to the Presidential candidate of the PDP.
Chief Clark stated categorically that Okowa’s emergence as running mate to Atiku was an outright breach of the agreement reached by stakeholders and Governors in the south that the Presidency should be zoned to the region.
The Governor in his response to Chief Clark’s letter, posited that there was so much ” falsehood”‘ in the Elder statesman’s claims, and that the expectations from a senior citizen should be actions that unit the nation.
PANDEF spokesman, Sunday Ken Robinson noted in dismay that Okowa rather than respond appropriately to issues raised by the Elder statesman, opted to “sink deeper into the pit. ”
“As a regional body that represents the interest of the people of the entire Niger Delta, PANDEF is compelled to that the responses to the matter by Okowa’s Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu is “thoughtless and disingenuous.
“For the purpose of correcting Okowa’s messengers, and to set the records straight for future generations, it’s necessary to remind Okowa and his aides of some facts.
“Without doubt there’s no other Nigeria, living or dead, who has played roles to unify this country as Chief E.K. Clark has done For over 70years, the respected national leader has continued to play overriding nationalistic roles which was acknowledged, perhaps unintended in the Commissioner’s response to the Chief’s letter.
“Our expectation was that His Excellency would provide answers to the questions posed. Because the funds that come to Delta state are for the people of the state, thus, the demand for accountab and transparency must not be ignored or trivialized but should be answered correctly, especially for a man who dreams to become the vice president of Nigeria.
The PANDEF spokesman insisted that Governor Okowa should respond accordingly to the critical issues cited in Chief Clark’s letter including the doubtful circumstances that eventually threw him up as vice president candidate to the PDP presidential candidate, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
It was against this back drop that PANDEF Issues the 48hours ultimatum to Governor Okowa.
