THE ADOPTION OF EBIKEME CLARK





BURUTU LGA CHAIRMANSHIP - ADOPTION OF CLARK’S SON, A MISNOMER

Monday 21st July, 2014 Some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State was said to have met in the Mega Hilton Hotel Effurun, not to address the serious problems of underdevelopment and unemployment plaguing the Council Area but to adopt a candidate for the Chairmanship slot in the forth coming Council Polls.

 This is coming at a time when the Presidency and the New Leadership of the PDP have made it abundantly clear that; the era of kangaroo Primaries is over. It seems these leaders are either not in Nigeria or they want to dare Mr. President His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, The Party leadership lead by the indefatigable National Chairman Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu and the State Governor His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan who all insist that the process of selecting candidates for Elections should be transparent and that everyone should be given a level playing ground. His Excellency Dr. Uduaghan speaking in Koko 25th June, 2014 on the forth coming Council Elections had warned against the imposition of candidates. His Excellency said “We have agreed that there will be no imposition of candidates, if you are interested, go about your consultations, talk to leaders, talk to women, and talk to youths.” 

Hard as I try I can't understand the rationale for adopting Ebikeme Clark as the sole candidate for Chairmanship slot in the forth coming polls. In as much as Ebikeme Clark is free to contest for any elective office in the land and indeed that was what he did back in 2011 when he ran for the House of Representatives, even though he lost the primaries in the PDP, like many politicians without Principles he decamped from the PDP and got the Ticket to contest under the DPP but lost to Hon. Franc Enekorogha Penawei. Why not allow him pass the same road or are the leaders afraid he will lose in an open contest? If that be the case why impose an unpopular candidate on the people?

 Some are of the opinion that the Leaders wanted to pay Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark for all he had done for the Ijaw Nation and Burutu LGA in Particular. Be that as it may, I think it is the people that should decide how they want to thank our Father. I also doubt if that argument holds water based on the simple fact that Ebikeme Clark's desire to represent the people in 2011 was rejected by the people. Has Papa Clark done anything new between 2011 till date that will make the people change their mind?

 The amalgamation of Leaders whose only bases of romance is their collective desire like Pa Clark to ensure that former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Elder Godsday Peter Orubebe does not get the Governorship ticket of the PDP in next Year’s Gubernatorial Elections. The question on the lips of many is; Why are they afraid of Elder Orubebe? Why will a man oppose his brother for gunning for the highest office in the State?  Should baffle the discerning mind, especially as some of these leaders owe their political relevance to Orubebe's rich political legacy 

 Their grounds for this purported adoption is therefore Parochial, selfish, wicked and diabolical. Let the People of Burutu LGA decide who their Flag bearer will be.
It’s very disturbing that Pa Clark who opposed incumbent Governor of Delta State His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan on the grounds that he is a cousin of former Governor Chief James Onanefe Ibori, insisting then that Dr. Uduaghan was an imposed candidate, will watch this charade and not say a word against it. Is it a case of “See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Say No Evil” because this time it favors him? Where then is equity?


 The desperation on the part of these leaders is suspect, for them to carry out this abomination is an effrontery in the light of the New PDP our National Chairman is trying to build. These are the same people who have swept a valid Court Judgment/Order under the Carpet and pretend everything is ok. The purported adoption of Ebikeme Clark to many in the Council Area, is adding Insult to injury, coming at the heels of the uncertainty occasioned by the lack of clear Leadership of the Party in the Council area as the man recognized by these leaders had been restrained from parading himself as Chairman in SUIT NO: FHC/WR/CS/189/2013.

 It is clear these leaders from Burutu are riding against the tide with their old fashioned adoption of a single candidate. It is doubtful if this may go down well with the long suffering people of Burutu Local Government, whose desire for change will not be met by this melodrama of a charade. Election related violence is common in Burutu Local 
Government Area in the past when leaders have tried to impose candidates.

 Ebikeme Clark will do himself and Burutu Council Area a world of good by heeding the stand of His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that “No Ambition of his is worth the blood of any Nigerian” the first step is for him to reject this adoption and test his popularity in an Open and Transparent poll, anything on the contrary is passing through the window to enter the house and only thieves do that.

 We are using this medium to appeal to the National Leader of the PDP His Excellency President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, His Excellency Ahmadu Adamu Mu'azu the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, the Executive Governor of Delta State and The State Party Chairman Chief Barr. Peter Nwaoboshi to prevail on these leaders to retrace their steps and make room for all screened and cleared candidates to contest the forth coming polls in Burutu Local government Area in an Open and Transparent Primaries.

Signed:
Concerned Citizens of Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State. 

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