Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of deliberately trying to incite Nigerians against another former President, Goodluck Jonathan, by spreading falsehood.
The former Minister of Information stated this on Wednesday, in an open letter addressed to Obasanjo, over his remarks in Olusegun Adeniyi’s new book, ‘Against The Run of Play’.
Clark also accused Obasanjo of disparaging Ijaw leaders like himself and Asari Dokubo.
“For instance, some of the statements you made against me in your book ‘Under My Watch’ were the same statements you repeated in Olusegun Adeniyi’s book which is an arrangement between the two of you to condemn the Ijaw and to incite other Nigerian leaders to disparage the Ijaw leaders particularly myself and the younger ones like Asari Dokubo whom you kept in prison for two years without trial until we begged you to release him,” he stated.
He also challenged Obasanjo to tell Nigerians “… what do you really want from Jonathan and the Ijaw people? Most of the various issues you raised in collaboration with Olusegun Adeniyi’s book “Against the Run of Play” are mere re-visitation of the many things you did and failed to do in your eight years of mis-governance.”
Clark, who is also the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, insisted that Obasanjo’s claim that Jonathan did not take the Boko Haram war seriously and was using it to enrich some people, was not true.
“Another criticism you made against Jonathan was Jonathan’s way of handling Boko Haram and that Jonathan was not interested in accountability and that if Jonathan was therefore allowed to continue in 2015 it would no doubt damage the whole country.
“And that Jonathan and his people turned Boko Haram into an industry for making money. I think this is very uncharitable…, you should name how Jonathan and his people turned Boko Haram into a money-making industry and who are his people that benefited from that industry?” he added.
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