24022020

44 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
INSECURITY: We 'll resort to
self-defence if... – EK Clark
ELDER Statesman, Chief
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark,
92, has intimidating
credentials. He is a teacher,
lawyer, administrator, Ijaw
National leader, nationalist,
leader of the South South
Peoples Assembly, SSPA,
South and Middle belt
Leaders Forum, SMBLF. He
was Commissioner for
Education, Mid-Western
Region, 1968-71;
Commissioner for Finance
and Establishment, defunct
Bendel State, 1972-75; Federal
Commissioner
for
Information, 1975; and
Senator, 1979-83. In this
interview, the Kiagbodo, Delta
State -born leader bares his
mind on the killings in Delta
State, establishment of
Amotekun, the Constitution
review by the Senate,
Amnesty Bill for Ex- Boko
Haram insurgents, security
challenges in the country, and
other salient national issues.
By Henry Umoru,
Assistant Politics Editor
What is your take on the recent
killings in Uwheru, Ughelli North
and the exhuming of eight
corpses?
The news of the killings did not
come to me as a surprise because I
am from Delta and my place is very
close to Uwheru where this incident
took place. For a long time now, I
would say for more than 10 years
now Fulani herdsmen have always
caused problems in that place in
their search for grazing land. The
Uwheru people who are purely
farmers have always clashed with
them in their attempt to drive them
away from their farms and this had
always resulted in some casualties
of the Uwheru people.
The recent onslaught of the
herdsmen did not come to me as a
surprise because they are now
taking advantage of the Federal
Government not taking action on
previous cases all over the country.
We have not heard one day from
the Federal Government that one
Fulani herdsman has been arrested,
his gun taken from him. Rather we
have heard words of
encouragements from those in
authority.
This time, the herdsmen,
particularly after the flood which
normally occupy the grazing land,
will come with trailers filled with
cattle and drop them with the
people. Sometimes they remain
there and prevent the people from
going to their farms until when the
flood is coming again before they
move back.
When I heard the governor of
Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa
making a statement about the
incident that took place in Uwheru,
I was only shocked because he said
that he learned that they did it with
the assistance of some military men
and investigation about that should
take place. That was the only new
thing that came to me because the
issue of attack of the Uwheru
people had been known to me for
a long time.
There is also a problem where the
security officers, Soldiers and the
Police in our area particularly in
Delta are mostly from the North, so
no action is being taken to prevent
this onslaught on our people.
As a result of this, the leaders of
the South, Middle Belt, that is South
West, South-South, South-East and
the Middle Belt met over this issue
particularly the killing of people in
the Southern part of Nigeria. When
we saw a report sent to us by the
community, we felt very sad that this
killing took place and the people
had to be exhumed from shallow
graves and I heard the Police say
that they wanted to know who killed
the people, who buried them and so
on and I just smiled.
Does it mean that the villagers or
the communities killed their people,
buried them in shallow graves to
obtain what? Credibility of their
allegations against the Fulani
Herdsmen or what?
We are all Nigerians and no one
is more superior than the other;
perhaps this is the reason many
people in the country are now
agreeing that we should have state
police and we are waiting to see the
next thing. We will be meeting with
the governor of Delta State before
we issue our statement on this
frightening attack on our people in
the South.
We thought what is going on is
mainly in the North and we all
sympathize with it. So I think this
matter has to be seriously looked
into and we shall visit the matter
again.
During the last Christmas I was
at home. One day, I received a
delegation of 25 women from
Ughelli South Local Council that
they learned I was in town and as
their leader they had come to
complain to me and I asked them:
'What is happening?'
They said they were getting very
worried because their farms have
been taken over by Fulani herdsmen
and they cannot go to the farms for
fear of being raped or killed; that I
should appeal to the governor of
Delta State and use my position of
being in Abuja to see what could
be done for them to go back to their
INSECURITY:
Highlights
•Why all zones must adopt
regional security outfit
•Community policing not
good enough
•Buhari does not own Nigeria
•It's South-South Govs meet
on regional security outfit
•All regions should copy
South-West's Amotekun
•How FG's inaction is fuelling
herdsmen menace
•Senators should be reduced
to one per state
•Size NASS, states assembly
should be cut down
farms.
Similarly, my community women
also reported that similar things were
happening in their place that they
have taken their bush called
Ugborugbo and they cannot go to
We appeal to every
area to do what the
South-West has done.
Community policing
is not enough which
is being controlled
from the centre like
the normal police; so
I think we have to
resort to self defence
as mentioned earlier
by Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma.
the farm. What type of country are
we building? This is what is
happening in the Niger Delta.
I also saw in the papers, the
Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom who
is 103years old announcing that
many of his people have been killed
by these Fulani herdsmen. He
mentioned the names of those
killed, the villages that are suffering
from these type of thing in his
kingdom and he
called on the
government to
come to their
rescue.
We have
Amotekun in the
South-West and
other geopolitical
zones are
clamouring for
theirs. What is
your take?
I was outside the
country when I
heard of
Amotekun and I
approved of it. I
supported it. We
the leaders of the
South and the
Middle Belt
supported them
and congratulated
them for having
the courage, the
boldness and the
wisdom to do
what they did
particularly when
it is realized that
only Oyo State is
governed by a
different party, the
P e o p l e s
Democratic Party,
PDP, all the other
five are All
Progressives
Congress, APC. So
•Chief Clark
one is very happy
that leaders of our
people can differentiate
between
what is political party and what is
in the interest of their area and the
country at large.
So we appeal to every area to do
what the South-West has done.
Community policing is not enough
which is being controlled from the
centre like the normal police; so I
think we have to resort to self
defence as mentioned earlier by Lt.
Gen. T.Y. Danjuma.
We are appealing particularly to
my region, the South-South that
the governors should meet and take
similar decision, no one is going to
keep quiet while his home is under
siege, and his people are being killed
and women are helpless. That is why
we supported Amotekun.
Even though there were some
counter statements that were made,
the people stood firm and I am
happy that the law will soon be
passed by the various Houses of
Assembly in the South -West.
Every region or state should adopt
that because that is the only way
to prevent the attacks on our
people. They are not uniformed
men, they are not state police, and
all that they are doing is to
complement the police which do
not have enough men to go round.
I was surprised the other day
when it was reported to me that the
governors of the South-East are
dancing what I don’t know, they
took a decision that they have also
formed their own before Amotekun
and they were not copying anybody,
for them to turn round after holding
meeting with the security men, they
now said community policing is
what they are doing; so what about
the one they have put ahead before?
Though I am very surprised, but I
am happy to note that the entire
people of the South-East will like
what is going on in the South-West
and I think the governors will listen
to them to change their mind to do
what they have said they have done
before.
The forest guard and so on and
we all were proud that the
governors of the South-East have
now established their own defence
force. I am saying that every region
in Nigeria should have a similar
thing like Amotekun, let it be uniform.
The Senate has started yet another
constitutional review. The
Chairman of the 58-member Constitution
Review and Deputy Senate
President, Senator Ovie Omo-
Agege promised that the report of
the 2014 Confab would be revisited.
As one of the 492 delegates to
the Conference where more than
600 resolutions were reached,
which areas do you think the Committee
should pay serious attention
to?
Firstly, on behalf of the Pan Niger
Delta Forum, PANDEF, I wish to
congratulate the Senate for
Constituting a Committee to review
the Constitution. We pray that all
members place the interest of
Nigeria first, and not to play
partisan politics and ethnicity in
carrying out their deliberations. This
is because the Report of the 8th
Assembly was a disgrace,
particularly when they voted
against devolution of power.
Having said that I will say that
the first item the Constitution
Review Committee should consider
is that of Devolution of Power to the
states.
The present Constitution of
Nigeria has no character of
Federalism. It is a unitary form of
Constitution.
A situation whereby the Federal
Government controls every aspect
of Government including Primary
and Secondary Schools,
Agriculture, Health, Finance, etc.
is untidy. And that is why people
consider the President of Nigeria to
be one of the most powerful in the
world. Everything must get
approval of the President/Centre.
This is not what happens in the US
where we copied from.
The Constitution should contain
only two tiers of government.
Matters pertaining Local
Government should be handled by
the State, the Federal Government
should off its hands.
Local Government Councils
should be created by State
Governments in accordance to their
requirement and as to their ability
to finance them.
There should be no joint account
between the State and Local
Governments. All monies should be
paid to the State Governments, and
the State Governments should set
up State Revenue Mobilisation
Commission which should be
headed by a retired Judge.
The Federal Government should
have some of the following
functions.
(i) Foreign Policy including
signing of Treaties.
(ii) Defence
(iii) National Assembly which
should be streamed down or
reduced to one Senator per State.
The membership of the House of
Representatives should also be
reduced.
(iiii) Tertiary education as they
exist now where states are also free
to establish their own Universities
should be maintained.
The present Constitution with
about 79 powers exclusively
reserved for the Federal
Government makes it clumsy and
authoritative and makes the State
Governments to work like
appendages of the Federal
Government.
The State Government should
also reduce their membership of the
State Houses of Assembly to make
it cost effective and efficient in
intelligence. Also the State Houses
of Assembly should be independent
of the State Executive.
Local Governments should not be
part of the Federal Constitution
and should be a creation of the Region
or State, which should finance
them.
To be concluded