By Ken Afor
A group known as Niger Delta Lawyers For Equity (NDLFE) has threatened legal action against the federal government of Nigeria if it fails to tender an apology within one week following the alleged invasion of the home of Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), in Delta state by soldiers.
This was conveyed in a statement jointly signed by its coordinator, Akpokona Omafuaire, and secretary, Amos David, on March 27 in Warri, Delta state.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, Chief Clark, a former Federal minister of Information and second Republic Senator, in a statement he issued claimed that some soldiers numbering about 40 forcefully broke into his house in search of Mr. Vote, the community chairman of Okuoma Community, whom the Army was looking for regarding the killings of the 17 soldiers of the Nigerian Army.
In response to the incident, the group expressed outrage over the raid on Chief Clark’s country home, viewing it as an affront not only to him but to the entire Niger Delta region.
The group criticized the disproportionate response of security forces to issues in the region compared to those in the North, suggesting bias.
They raised questions about why similar actions are not taken against leaders in the North when crimes occur there.
The statement reads: “We, at Niger Delta Lawyers for Equity, read with dismay and utter disbelief the raiding of the home of our South-South Leader in commando style. We want to believe it is not real.
“We want the President and Chief of Defence Staff to tender an unreserved apology within one week, failure of which we shall institute legal action for this great disrespect and international humiliation.
“While everyone condemned the ill-fated incident near Okuama community and commensurate with families of the slain officers. We want to say that the military operations have gone too far and out of control.
“Pa Clark is the face of the South-South and Niger Delta region, he has paid his due in the conflagration called Nigeria. And as a result, the raiding of his country home is not only an affront to him but to the whole Niger Delta region and its people.
“We understand that when issues concern the region, the security forces want to show their best destructive skills. If they had deplored the same aggression in the insecurity in the North, the issue of Book Haram and bandits would be long gone.
“Pa Clark was one of the first to condemn the killing of soldiers, so why humiliate him for calling for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the heinous crime?
“Can similar action be carried out in the homes of top Fulani and Hausa leaders when such act happened far from their homes in the North?
“We believed it is a calculated move to humiliate and pushed the voice of the Niger Delta region to an early grave. As a result, we are demanding a national apology from the President and the Chief of Army Staff and not that caricature call.
“Failure of which within one week, we shall be left with no option but to file an action against them and make a petition to Amnesty International and United Nations.”
