Date Published: 11/09/10

Beware of Sychophants, Ijeoma cautions Clark

Renowned social scientist and an elder of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Professor Benedith I C Ijeoma has charged the Ijaw leader chief E K Clark to be a good leader and not allow himself to be used by sycophants to destroy the society.

Besides Ijeoma who gave the charge while fielding questions from journalists , yesterday in Asaba ,said that the elders and leaders of the party were fully behind the former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Below are the excerpts of the question and answer session:

On E.K. Clark posture

“E.K. Clark is a PDP man like all of us, so his postures have limitations because the National Chairman of the PDP announced yesterday that the party will represent Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan for the election, that is final, and so if E.K. Clark is still a loyal PDP man and if the PDP is going to re-present Dr. Uduaghan, then E.K. Clark should fall in line. All of us will support Dr. Uduaghan, for the election because if Dr. Uduaghan does not win, President Jonathan’s posture in Delta state will have a question mark.

On how the party took the court’s decision

“The party does not have a say in this because the court has given the final decision,” go and conduct elections within ninety days, and it is going to be between Dr. Uduaghan and Ogboru.

“and my fears was that maybe Dr. Uduaghan has offended the party, but the National chairman said the party would represent Dr. Uduaghan and will campaign for Dr. Uduaghan, so, if the party has taken that position then all of us who are PDP members are bound to support Dr. Uduaghan. E.K. Clark is not saying Dr. Uduaghan will not contest, all is saying, I listened to him yesterday, is that he wanted a free and fair election, and that is what all of us are saying, one man, one vote. As you enter the Government House, you see a board there, one man, one vote, one woman, one vote, I was laughing when I saw it two days ago.

Dr. Uduaghan wants free and fair election, and quite frankly, where is DPP in Delta state. I do not even know their office. And Ogboru is saying his people are all over. Let them come and show us. We want them to come out. There will be free and fair election. If Ogboru wins we will welcome him. If Dr. Uduaghan wins we will welcome him, but we are all involved in Dr. Uduaghan’s ticket because we are leaders of PDP. And we can not stand by and let another party wins. It is not possible, so, there is loyalty to the party in defense of the party position. The party is saying that there was free and fair election, the judgment in Asaba say there was free election, the judgment in Benin say there was no free and fair election, o.k. go for another election. We want to show that the first election was not a fluke, that PDP won hands down.

On Clark’s call for EFCC to arrest.

“What E.K. Clark says is personal to E.K. Clark. He is not the party leader either in Delta state or at the Federal. If Chief Nwaoboshi says the party here will not support Dr. Uduaghan, that calls for concern but the National chairman has said that the party will represent Dr. Uduaghan. In other words, as far as the party is concerned Dr. Uduaghan has no case, so if E.K. Clark knows of any reason why Dr. Uduaghan should be arrested, let him publish it. Dr. Uduaghan of course would be given a chance to defend himself. You do not arrest people because E.K. Clark say arrest. He is not a police officer.

On whether E.K. Clark’s posture is anti PDP?

eh - yes, it is anti-party activity if he said Dr. Uduaghan wii not contest after the national chairman has said Dr. Uduaghan will contest. It will be anti-party activity, but you see when a frog is dancing in the centre of the road in the afternoon there must be godfather inside the bush. We will watch the development. All we will do, is that all loyal PDP members should stand on red alert; within three months time we will go to the field, we will return Dr. Uduaghan. If E.K. Clark as a PDP member say Dr. Uduaghan shall not come back after we have returned him, then there is a problem, the party of course will know what to do.

On Clark’s call for the dissolution of the party’s EXCO

“He has always be calling for that but he is not the leader of the PDP. The National chairman of PDP has said, they will not dissolve, remember that the National Chairman was having a kind of dialogue with INEC. INEC has no authority to dissolve any structure. If the PDP wants to field a goat, PDP will suffer the loss, not INEC, INEC is an umpire to make sure that the process of selecting that goat is in order, but they cannot tell who is going to carry its flag. PDP can say we want a woman to go. If majority of the people do not like a woman, then PDP will lose the election. It is simple, very simple.

On whether he thinks Dr. Uduaghan is coming back.

Is there any other party in Delta State. I have just asked you, where is the office of the DPP in Delta state. I have never seen one. So, if they claim they control the loyalty of the masses they have to prove it in three months time.

On his advice to E.K. Clark.

“E.K. Clark is my leader. I will not oppose him, but you see there are many people, many sycophants misleading E.K. Clark. And I have gone there to tell him personally, at your age you do not become the centre of opposition to any government, at your age you should be bringing all of us together, all of us should be loyal to you. I am still loyal to E.K. Clark. If he calls meetings and invites, I go but if he does something wrong. I have the courage to say, my leader you are wrong and I have done it several times, but people who go there because they want to contest election for governorship, they want to go House of Assembly, they want to go to National Assembly, they should go to the party. E.K. Clark is not the party, they should come home and face the system, you say you want due process, they should follow due process to emerge as candidates of the party, not because E,K, Clark is presenting them. E.K. Clark is my leader, I accept him, but I am honest enough and loyal enough to tell him, Oga you are wrong.

On what he would advise Clark

In this case, ah I will tell him to allow the party and the court to follow due process. If the court says Dr. Uduaghan has no case to answer, why should E.K. Clark manufacture case for him to answer, is he a policeman?