Why FG must punish Edwin Clark, militants

A group, the New Niger Delta Emancipation Coalition has given reasons why elder statesman Edwin Clark should be punished by the federal government. The group in a statement signed by its spokesperson Lucky Humphrey on Sunday, September 11, said the elder statesman must be punished alongside militants under the aegis of Niger Delta Avengers. Referring to Clark and the avengers as crisis entrepreneur, the group said the duo must immediately put and end to the harassment of the Nigerian state or face the consequences of their criminal actions in the oil producing communities of the South-South. Also describing itself as an intellectual platform, NNDEC, said the group is made up of true Niger Delta sons that are against the actions of the Niger Delta Avengers and their collaborators. Humphrey said, Clark and the militants that he has described as his children have set the region behind in terms of development.

He added that henceforth, the people of Niger Delta see Clark as their enemy and have jointly called for a punishment against him over the crisis happening in the region.

Humphrey said: “We found it pertinent to disown Chief Edwin Clark and his minions at this time as we have realized that they have death wishes and would like to burn down the entire Niger Delta in their desperation for pecuniary gains.” He said the red line was crossed by these characters when they started making claims that the avengers have killed soldiers. He said the true indigenes of the region see the act as criminal and deliberate attempt to provoke the Nigerian army into taking actions against them and create the excuse to further antagonize the Nigerian state. “We warn that we will be left no option other than to expose Chief Edwin Clark for Nigerians and the whole world to see the true face of the avengers, which is driven by crisis entrepreneurs as opposed to the fraudulent image of freedom fighters being painted by the career criminals behind recent attacks on economic assets and troops in the Niger Delta,” Humphrey said. “We call on elders from other geopolitical zones and even from the South-South to disown and condemn Chief Clark for his role in misleading the “children” of the region. Our worry is that other elders across the country would be misled into following in his footstep if this Ijaw chief is allowed to get away with using youths as war fodder,” he said.