I have tried delaying the writing of this piece in the honest expectation
\nthat someone probably misquoted Chief E.K. Clark, when he reportedly
\npublicly disowned former President Goodluck Jonathan.<\/p>\n
I had hoped that our dear father, E.K. Clark, would issue a counter
\nstatement and say the usual things politicians say: \u201cthey quoted me out of
\ncontext!\u201d \u201cJonathan is my son\u201d. That has not happened; rather, some other
\nIjaw voices, including one Joseph Evah, have come to the defence of the
\nold man, to join hands in rubbishing a man they once defended to the hilt
\nand used as a bargaining chip for the Ijaw interest in the larger Nigerian
\ngeo-politics.<\/p>\n
If President Jonathan had returned to power on May 29, 2015, these same
\npersons would have remained in the corridors of power, displaying all
\nforms of ethnic triumphalism.<\/p>\n
It is the reason in case they do not realize it, why the existent power
\nblocs that consider themselves most fit to rule, continue to believe that
\nthose whose ancestors never ran empires can never be trusted with power,
\nhence they can only be admitted as other people\u2019s agents or as merchants
\nof their own interests which may even be defined for them as is deemed
\nconvenient. Mercantilism may bring profit, but in power politics, it
\ndestroys integrity and compromises otherwise sacred values.<\/p>\n
President Jonathan being publicly condemned by his own Ijaw brothers,
\nparticularly those who were once staunch supporters of his government
\nfurther serves the purpose of exposing the limits of the politics of
\nproximity. Politics in Africa is driven by this particular factor; it is
\nat the root of all the other evils: prebendalism, clientelism and what
\nMatthew Kukah has famously described as the \u201cmyownisation of power.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is both positive and negative, but obviously, more of the latter than
\nthe former. It is considered positive only when it is beneficial to all
\nparties concerned, and when the template changes, the ground also shifts.
\nAs in that song, the solid rock of proximity is soon replaced by shifting
\nsands. Old worship becomes new opportunism. And the observant public is
\nleft confounded.<\/p>\n
Chief E.K. Clark? Who would ever think, Chief E.K. Clark would publicly
\ndisown President Jonathan? He says Jonathan was a weak President. At what
\npoint did he come to that realization? Yet, throughout the five years (not
\nsix, please) of the Jonathan Presidency, he spoke loudly against anyone
\nwho opposed the President.<\/p>\n
He was so combative he was once quoted as suggesting that Nigeria could
\nhave problems if Jonathan was not allowed to return to office. Today, he
\nis the one helping President Jonathan\u2019s successor to quench the fires. He
\nalways openly said President Jonathan is \u201chis son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, he is not just turning against his own son, he is telling the world
\nhis son as President lacked the political will to fight corruption. He has
\nalso accused his son of being too much of a gentleman. Really?
\nGentlemanliness would be considered honourable in refined circles. Is Pa
\nE.K. Clark recommending something else in order to prove that he is no
\nlonger a politician but a statesman as he says?<\/p>\n
As someone who was a member of the Jonathan administration, and who
\ninteracted often with the old man, I can only say that I am shocked. This
\nis the equivalent of the old man deleting President Jonathan\u2019s phone
\nnumber and ensuring that calls from his phone no longer ring at the
\nJonathan end.<\/p>\n
During the Jonathan years, Chief E. K. Clark was arguably the most vocal
\nIjaw leader defending the government. He called the President \u201cmy son,\u201d
\nand both father and son remained in constant touch.<\/p>\n
There is something about having the President\u2019s ears in a Presidential
\nsystem, elevated to the level of a fetish in the clientelist Nigerian
\npolitical system. Persons in the corridors of power who have the
\nPresident\u2019s ear- be they cook, valet, in-laws, wife, cousin, former school
\nmates, priests, or whatever, enjoy special privileges.<\/p>\n
They have access to the President and they can whisper into his ears.
\nThat\u2019s all they have as power: the power to whisper and run a whispering
\ncampaign that can translate into opportunities or losses for those outside
\nthat informal power loop around every Presidency, that tends to be really
\ninfluential.<\/p>\n
Every President must beware of those persons who come around calling them
\n\u201cDaddy\u201d, \u201cUncle\u201d, na my brother dey there\u201d, \u201cmy son\u201d, \u201cour in-law\u201d-
\nemotional blackmailers relying on old connections. They are courted,
\npatronized and given more attention and honour than they deserve by those
\nlooking for access to the President or government.<\/p>\n
Even when the power and authority of the whispering exploiters of the
\npolitics of proximity is contrived, they go out of their way to exaggerate
\nit. They acquire so much from being seen to be in a position to make
\nthings happen.<\/p>\n
Chief E. K. Clark had the President\u2019s ears. He had unfettered access to
\nhis son. He was invited to most state events. And he looked out for the
\nman he called \u201cmy son\u201d, in whom he was well pleased. Chief Clark\u2019s energy
\nlevel in the service of the Jonathan administration was impressive.
\nFearless and outspoken, he deployed his enormous talents in the service of
\nthe Jonathan government. If a press statement was tame, he drew attention
\nto it and urged a more robust defence of \u201cyour boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
If any invective from the APC was overlooked, he urged prompt rebuttal. If
\nthe party was tardy in defending \u201chis son\u201d, he weighed in.<\/p>\n
If anyone had accused the President of lacking \u201cthe political will to
\nfight corruption\u201d at that time, he, E.K. Clark, would have called a press
\nconference to draw attention to the Jonathan administration\u2019s
\ninstitutional reforms and preventive measures, his commitment to electoral
\nintegrity to check political corruption, and the hundreds of convictions
\nsecured by both the ICPC and EFCC under his son\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n
So prominent and influential was he, that ministers, political jobbers etc
\netc trooped to his house to pay homage.<\/p>\n
In due course, those who opposed President Jonathan did not spare Chief E.
\nK. Clark either. He was accused of making inflammatory and
\nunstatesman-like statements. An old war-horse, nobody could intimidate
\nhim. He was not President Olusegun Obasanjo\u2019s fan in particular. He
\nbelieved Obasanjo wanted to sabotage his son, and he wanted Obasanjo put
\nin his place. Beneath all of that, was an unmistaken rivalry between the
\ntwo old men, seeking to control the levers of Nigerian politics.<\/p>\n
Every President probably needs a strong, passionate ally like Chief E. K.
\nClark. But what happened? What went wrong? Don\u2019t get me wrong. I am not
\nnecessarily saying that the Ijaw leader should have remained loyal to and
\ndefend Goodluck Jonathan because they are both Ijaws, patriotism
\ndefinitely could be stronger than ethnic affinities, nonetheless that E.
\nK. Clark tale about leaving politics and becoming a statesman is nothing
\nbut sheer crap.<\/p>\n
If Jonathan had returned to office, he would still be a card-carrying
\nmember of the PDP and the \u201cfather of the President\u201d and we would still
\nhave been hearing that famous phrase, \u201cmy son\u201d. Chief E. K. Clark, five
\nmonths after, has practically told the world that President Buhari is
\nbetter than \u201chis own son\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is the worst form of humiliation that President Jonathan has received
\nsince he left office. It is also the finest compliment that President
\nBuhari has received since he assumed office. The timing is also
\nauspicious: just when the public is beginning to worry about the direction
\nof the Buhari government, E. K. Clark shows up to lend a hand of support
\nand endorsement.<\/p>\n
Only one phrase was missing in his statement, and it should have been
\nadded: \u201cmy son, Buhari.\u201d It probably won\u2019t be too long before we hear the
\nold man saying \u201cI am a statesman, Buhari is my son.\u201d I can imagine
\nPresident Obasanjo grinning with delight.<\/p>\n
If he really wants to be kind, he could invite E.K. Clark to his home in
\nOta or Abeokuta to come and do the needful by publicly tearing his PDP
\nmembership card and join him in that exclusive club of Nigerian statesmen!<\/p>\n
The only problem with that club these days is that you can become a member
\nby just saying so or by retiring from partisan politics. We are more or
\nless being told that there are no statesmen in any of the political
\nparties.<\/p>\n
It is not funny. Julius Ceasar asked Brutus in one of the famous lines in
\nwritten literature: \u201cEt tu Brutus?\u201d President Jonathan should ask Chief E.
\nK. Clark: \u201cEt tu Papa?\u201d To which the father will probably tell the son:
\n\u201cCes\u2019t la vie, mon cher garcon.\u201d And really, that is life.<\/p>\n
In the face of other considerations, loyalties vanish; synergies collapse.
\nThe wisdom of the tribe is overturned; the politics of proximity
\ndissolves; loyalties remain in a perpetual process of construction. Thus,
\nindividual interests and transactions drive the political game in Nigeria,
\nwith time and context as key determinants.<\/p>\n
These are teachable moments for President Jonathan. Power attracts men and
\nwomen like bees to nectar, the state of powerlessness ends as a journey to
\nthe island of loneliness.<\/p>\n
However, the greatest defender of our work in office is not our ethnic
\n\u201cfathers and \u201cbrothers\u201d but rather our legacy. The real loss is that
\nPresident Jonathan\u2019s heroism, his messianic sacrifice in the face of
\ndefeat, is being swept under the carpet and his own brothers who used to
\nsay that the Ijaws are driven by a principle of \u201cone for all and all for
\nanother\u201d, have become agent-architects of his pain.<\/p>\n
The Ijaw platform having seemingly been de-centered, Chief E.K. Clark and
\nothers are seeking assimilation in the new power structure. It is a
\ntelling reconstruction of the politics of proximity and mimicry.<\/p>\n
Chief E.K. Clark once defended the rights of ethnic minorities to aspire
\nto the highest offices in the land, his latest declaration about his son
\nreaffirms the existing stereotype at the heart of Nigeria\u2019s hegemonic
\npolitics.<\/p>\n
The same hegemons and their agents whom Clark used to fight furiously will
\nno doubt find him eminently quotable now that he has proclaimed that it is
\nwrong to be a \u201cgentleman\u201d, and that his son lacks \u201cthe political will to
\nfight corruption\u201d. There is more to this than we may ever know.<\/p>\n
Chief Clark can insist from now till 2019, that he has spoken as a
\nstatesman and as a matter of principle. His re-alignment, is curious
\nnonetheless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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