Obasanjo insists that he does not hate the Niger Delta region.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The war of words between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Niger Delta elder Edwin Clark, continues to rage with each throwing punches at the other.
In the latest round of the impasse, Obasanjo has put a lie to the allegations by Clark that he has disdain for the Niger Delta people, arguing that he had never shown anger or distraught to the region or any part of the country.
Clark, the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Ijaw National Congress, INC, had written an open letter to Obasanjo.
In it he said Obasanjo’s comments that the oil found in the Niger Delta does not belong to the people of the region represents his continuous arrogant stance and disposition against Niger Delta.
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The former president was said to have made the comment at a peace and security parley convened by the Global Peace Foundation and Vision Africa in Abuja. Irked by the remarks, Clark challenged Obasanjo on why he had not made a similar outburst against the open declaration of the governor and the people of Zamfara State, that the gold under their soil belongs to them.
“Where were you when people went to the Villa, accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, to present a gold bar to President Muhammadu Buhari, mined by the government and people of Zamfara State, as their property? Your Excellency probably did not speak because Zamfara State belongs to the North, whose interest you continuously hold dear to your heart”, Clark told Obasanjo.
He reminded the former President that his views represented his continuous arrogant stance and disposition against the people of Niger Delta.
In a riposte through a letter dated December 28, Obasanjo said what Clark called an outburst is his (Obasanjo’s) way of getting people/listeners’ attention. He accused the Ijaw leader of deploying intemperate language in addressing him, insisting that he is not anybody’s lackey.
Obasanjo wrote: “Some of the languages you have deployed to describe me in your letter are offensive, uncouth and I totally and completely rejected them.
“I am not inconsistent, hypocritical, unstatesman, and nor am I anybody’s lackey.
“You use your own yardstick to judge others. I hope you think and adjust. Negotiation achieves better results than dictation.”