LAGOS— Northern interest groups and leaders, yesterday, flayed Ijaw
national leader, Chief Edwin Clark's assertion of theculpability of
Northern leaders in the Boko Haram insurgency, describing his claim as
extreme ethnic jingoism.
In their various reactions to Clark's claim ofnorthern conspiracy
against the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the northern groups and
elders said the depiction of the President as a victim was a wrong
assessment of what they separately described as the inability of the
regime to address a problem that has spread through ethnic and
religious divisions in thenorth.
The northern leaders' reaction came in theface of the assertion by
Clark at a public lecture in Abuja on Wednesday that powerful northern
leaders are orchestrating the Boko Haram insurgency to destabilise the
Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Among those who reacted yesterday were the Arewa Consultative Forum,
ACF; the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF; prominent northern
leader, Alhaji Lawal Kaita; fiery northern political commentator Dr.
Junaid Mohammed; prominent lawyer, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and Rep.
Zakari Mohammed, the spokesman of the House of Representatives.
Clark is wrong — ACF
Reacting to the assertion, the ACF speaking though its spokesman,
Anthony A. Z. Sanni said:
"If Chief Edwin Clark believes Northern Leaders brought about Boko
Haram in order to make the country ungovernable for President
Jonathan; you in the media should remind him that President Umar
Yar'Adua used force and killed 700 members of the sect and their
leader in 2009 when there was no politics of zoning.
"What is more, President Jonathan's ruling party controls about 14
northern states. The numbers 2,3,4 and 5 in the government are from
the North. How would the North make the country ungovernable under
such situation?
"I have made this point clear that it is unhelpful to associate Boko
Haram with a region, with religion or with ethnicity. Wereit strategic
to think so, America would haveassociated al-Qaeda with Saudi Arabia
or with Islam, since Osama Bin Laden and most of the 19 pilots who
brought the New York twin towers down on 9/11 were of Saudi
extraction.
"Nigerians passed their judgment and rejected politics of zoning when
they votedPresident Jonathan in 2011. As democrats, northern leaders
under ACF congratulated President Jonathan and all those who won their
elections. ACF also paid courtesy call on Mr President and urged
Nigerians to support the government and that politicians should go to
the trenches for 2015 only when the whistle is blown by theauthority.
"What else should northern leaders do in order to assure Chief Clark
that the security challenges and the national malaise have not been
brought about by northern leaders? The media should also help dispel
such misconceptions for national interest," Sani said.
It's pure blackmail — Arewa youths
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, in its own reaction
described the assertion as pure blackmail that would inevitably
compound the problems of the president.
"That is a blackmail and one is not surprised because the elder
statesman, though I have respect for him, but sometimes, his
utterances seem to compound more trouble for the Niger Deltapeople and
even the president," Alhaji Yerima Shetimma, the national president of
the AYCF told Vanguard yesterday.
"One of the issues they have raised is that often time, when they
talk, they say 'our president, our son', 'our oil and our money', that
does not protect the unity of this country; in fact, it is a threat to
national unity.
"When there was crisis in the Niger Delta, some of us did not see it
as a Niger Delta crisis but as a Nigerian problem. Of what importance
will it be to a northerner to sponsor Boko Haram and at the same time,
the direct victim is the northerner because, over 99 per cent of
victims of Boko Haram are northerners.
"Jonathan did not become President because of the support he had only
from the South-south. In fact, some of us did thework for him to be
there. Some of us pushed for the Doctrine of Necessity and I was one
of the vocal voices that stood and insisted that the right thing must
be done. If they continue doing that, they are treading on the wrong
path and they mightend up ruining. This must stop, this madness must
stop. So, nobody should accuse the north, this is blackmail and we
will resist it".
Kaita, Mohammed, others react
Prominent Northern leader, Kaita on his part described the claim by
Clark as a lie, saying that most northern leaders no longer take Clark
serious.
"That was a dishonest lie by E.K Clark. Northern elders have never
been against Jonathan's administration. And northern elders are not
Boko Haram. We all want peace for this nation. Unfortunately, the
government has allowed Boko Haram to be in charge. They are not doing
enough inthat respect. For anybody to say that we are using Boko Haram
to destablise Jonathan's administration means that the person is
telling a blatant lie. Even the casualties resulting from Boko Haram
attacks are mainly northerners, how can someone now say that the
elders are usingit to destabilise Jonathan's administration? We
northern elders no longer take E.K Clark serious. As far as we are
concerned, he is not serious on his positions on the state of the
nation, although he used to be a very good friend of the north before
now.
"Jonathan's administration will collapse by its non performance,
especially non implementation of the budget," Kaita said.
Dr. Junaid Mohammed in his own reaction said: "I wouldn't want to go
mad with a reckless statement credited to Chief Edwin Clark. I can
confirm to you that the event was conceived and financed to do exactly
what Chief Edwin Clark did and those who are behind the event have
been handsomely paid in addition to promises made to them.
"Secondly, he is a man of age but no wisdom", he said.
Expressing his disappointment that Clark who is a lawyer could express
such comments, Dr. Mohammed said: "Where isthe proof from Barrister or
Lawyer Edwin Clark? Where is the proof from those who are peddling
this irresponsible talk? The statement he has made is very baseless
and irresponsible.
"They should have enough evidence and proof before making this kind of
inflammatory statement and if they cannotprove, they should be
prosecuted."
In his own assertion yesterday, Rep. ZakariMohammed the spokesman of
the House of Representatives described the depiction of northern
leaders by Clark as grossly sensational.
Responding to Clark's charge to Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari to condemn the activities of the Boko Haram group,
Mohammed said:
"These two leaders have demonstrated their commitment to the united
existence of this country. They don't need to openly say what they
have been doing about the prevailing situation in the country.
"It is unfair for him to cast aspersions on these past leaders. There
should be mutual respect in this country; that is what makes a nation.
The problem of terrorism in this country is not a sectional one. Both
Muslims and Christians are being killed. During the general elections,
both Christians and Muslims voted for President Goodluck Jonathan."
Prominent northern lawyer, Abubakar Malami, SAN, also absolved
northern leaders of complicity in the charges againstthem by Clark in
the raging Boko Haram violence that has wreaked havoc in many parts of
the north.
Malami said the ongoing security challengein the land was borne out of
government inability to deal with the monster, and not instigated by
northern leaders.
He stated that it was the government's total incompetence that had
given rise to the state of insecurity in the country.
The lawyer said that it was wrong for Clarkto accuse northern leaders
of taking side with Boko Haram when they neither control security
votes nor the apparatus of fighting crime.
"The man should not look for scapegoats for what the government has
clearly failed to address. If the administration is incompetent to
tackle insecurity, nobody should blame it on innocent citizens who
have not been given any money or tools tofight crime,"
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