Connect with us

Headline

Wike Should Remain In Abuja, Leave Fubara, Rivers Alone – Clark

Published

on

Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Nyesom Wike to remain focused and concentrate in the nation’s Capital because he has a lot to do and leave Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the people of the state alone.

The Elder statesman who stated this in an Interview with African Independent Television, AIT on Tuesday however accused the former Rivers State governor and the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and his successor as the masterminds of what he described as politics of madness in Rivers State.

The Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF who noted that godfatherism must give way in the nation’s polity and the practice of politics for the development and growth of democracy in the country, said that he has never Fubara ad he cannot ascertain his complexion, said that he is only out to fight against injustice and oppression.

Advertisement

The interview by the AIT with Clark was in Commemorations of his 97th Birthday as well as a Documentary on his Life and Achievements.

When asked why attempts have not been made to settle both Wike and Fubara, the Leader of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF asked if they are quarrelling that would call for settlement, stressing that what is playing out is egocentricism, the issue of I made you the governor of the state and you must worship me, but the other saying that he cannot worship man, but God, even though he agreed that he made the governor by the former governor.

READ ALSO: Buhari Did Everything To Subjugate Igbos, Says Edwin Clark

Advertisement

Clark said, “Who made you Governor of Rivers States, today you don’t want to see the man? He wrote about Peter Odili but later now he said that if he does anything against Odili, God should kill him. Then, Amaechi made him Chief of Staff. When he quarreled with him, Ameachi now recommended him to be appointed Minister, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo agreed.

“But what happened? One day, we had the approval of theresidency to tell the security people as he got five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, I have their names here, to impeach the speaker, one Otelemaba Amachreee. Then to later impeach, the governor, Rotimi Ameachi. There was a free-for-all fight. The mace was broken. One of the members called Chidi, not somebody with a part of the mace. That man had to be flown abroad for treatment. Amaechi then closed the House of Assembly for one year. So that’s Wike’s work.

“Politics of madness in Rivers State was started by Wike and Ameachi. They don’t care about other people. So, there is no way, Wike should stay, remain in Abuja to do his job. Let the young man rule his place.

Advertisement

“What are you going to settle them for? Where they quarreling. What are you settling them for? People said Wike made Fubara governor, yes, that is true.

“The man has acknowledged it. But he says, I can’t worship a human being that I will worship God to show appreciation. But Wike said that worship God through me. The man said no. That is the problem they have.”

READ ALSO: Woman Wrongly Convicted Of Murder Freed After 43 Years In Prison

Advertisement

On the Rivers State House of Assembly members who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the All Progressives Congress, APC, he said, “So, as far as I’m concerned, it will ease out. And this is tied to what you said about INEC. INEC is not doing its job. The constitution is clear. There’s a legal advisor in INEC office, Secretariat.

“When such vacancies are created like this, they have to take action to conduct election within 90 days to fill those vacant places, which they have not done. These are some of their failings.”

When asked what he would like to be remembered for, Clark disclosed that he would want to be remembered as a foremost Nigerian who believed in Nigeria, who believed in equality in this country, who believed that no one in Nigeria should be regarded as a superior person against the other, just as asked those he offended in the course of his sojourn and work to forgive him.

Advertisement

The South South leader said, “It must come from a home to be a Nigerian. So, as far as I remember, number one, I am one of the oldest states men in Nigeria. I was very happy when His Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, during my book launch, Brutally Frank asked everybody to stand up, with General Yakubu Gowon, former President Goodluck Jonathan, among others were all there. He said, everybody should stand up. The Ooni said that Chief Clark is our Baba, he is our nationalist, a national figure. So, what honour do would be more than that ? So, I want to be remembered for the role I played in Nigeria, and an appeal to those that during these 70 something years of my service to my country, those that I do not know that I have offended, to forgive me.

READ ALSO: Chief Imam’s Sallah Ram Stolen In Jos

“But I want to be remembered to be a foremost Nigerian who believed in Nigeria, who believed in equality in this country, who believed that no one in Nigeria should be regarded as a superior person against the other. Everybody should be equal.

Advertisement

” That is the Nigerian I want to be remembered for that. I contributed to that, which I did, because during the civil war, all the teachers and other workers from the South West or South East, South-South, left the North. There were no teachers, there were nobody. I was then the Commissioner for Education, i was appointed by Bridgadier General Samuel Ogbemudia, we supplied Kano State, 250 teachers, free of charge, they don’t pay out. Audu Bako was the governor; . They got integrated in Kano.

We gave North West, Sokoto the headquarters, 200 teachers; when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was Commissioner for Education in Sokoto, North Western State. They didn’t treat them well, then the people returned home.

We gave science teachers to the rest of the states. We had exchange of students, with North East, in Maiduguri.

Advertisement

“And the other day, during the COVID-19, I got a call that the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu was coming to visit me. So he came. And he sat down somewhere, because of the COVID.

READ ALSO: Rivers Crisis: Clark Asks PDP, APC Chairmen To Caution Wike

“Then he was saying, have you forgotten your pension? He said exchange of students? I said, yes, yes, I remember. One of my daughters said, he was one of those who finished up in Government College in Maiduguri.

Advertisement

He said, yes, myself, I was sent to Edo College, where I did my HSC. And he used to come and talk to us. I said, come and sit by me. That’s all I wanted.

“When the war was over, Gen. Yakubu Gowon said, I don’t need any congratulations, that there was no victor, no vanquished because it was a family war. Go and help them to reintegrate, to reconcile and we have a station, which we did. My eldest daughter, Rebecca, was in Class 2 in St. Theresa School Ughelli. I removed her from Ughelli and took her to Enugu to go and study with them and see and suffer with them, supplied them desk.Government supplied Queen’s School, Enugu, Okanagan Grammar School, Enugu, with furnished teacher’s quarters in Nsukka, 10.

“So what am I saying? I’ve been in Nigeria. And I challenge anybody who says, Chief Clark was such and such, no way.

Advertisement

“I kicked against corruption because I know it’s one of those things eating Nigeria. I will be remembered for my role in education. When I was 85, I asked myself, what do I do? I must leave a legacy behind.

“Shouting on top of my voice is not enough. I said I want to establish a private University where children from all over the country will come to my village, live together, study together, and grow up together to be good citizens of their country and already, that is happening.”

Advertisement

Headline

UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

on

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

Advertisement

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

READ ALSO:UK Police Hunt Asylum Seeker Mistakenly Freed For Sex Offence

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

Advertisement

He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

Advertisement

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

READ ALSO:Alleged Misappropriation: MFM Accuses UK Agency Of Discrimination

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

Advertisement

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

Advertisement

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

Advertisement

 

Continue Reading

Headline

Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

on

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Madagascar’s President Denounces ‘Coup Attempt’ As Gen Z Protests Escalate

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Advertisement

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

READ ALSO:Madagascar Passes Bill To Castrate Child R*pists

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

Advertisement

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

on

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:FULL LIST: Trump, Kamala, Netanyahu, Others Shortlisted For 2024 Time’s Person Of The Year

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

Advertisement

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

READ ALSO:Kamala Harris Secures Democratic Presidential Nomination

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

Advertisement

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending