PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu |
By Olusola Fabiyi
A former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin
Clark, has accused the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party,
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, of misinforming President Goodluck Jonathan on issues
relating to the party.
Clark was particularly unhappy with Mu’azu, who he alleged
of imposing a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, as the PDP governorship candidate in Adamawa State.
He said Mu’azu misinformed the President on the alleged
popularity of the former chairman of the anti-graft commission.
Speaking while hosting members of the Northern Youth
Vanguard at his residence in Abuja on Saturday, the Ijaw leader said that he
was also surprised when Ribadu visited him with a owner of a television and
radio stations from the South-South (names withheld), asking for his (Clark’s)
support.
He said, “Mu’azu and some people are misleading the
President in the PDP. He imposed Ribadu on the people of Adamawa, saying he’s
popular.
“Two weeks ago, Ribadu came here with some people (names
withheld) asking for my support. This is the same Ribadu that was arresting
people indiscriminately when he was the chairman of the EFCC without following
the due process. He was given a list with which to work with.
“There is no justice. Those who parade themselves on newspapers
are anti-PDP. Majority of them are working against the party and the
President.”
Clark called on youths in the country to deny old men the
opportunity to rule the country by voting for young and educated candidates in
next month’s general elections.
He particularly urged them not to vote for 73-year-old
presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari (retd.), who he said was “close to his departure lounge.”
He said, “My sons and my daughters, I have gone to this very
length to show you that the man called Buhari, you do not know him. You are
knowing him at the age of 73. Why should they be supporting him when he wants
to sleep?
“Can the man stand firmly? I will be surprised that those
who are catapulting him will not say, ‘ah, is this another game?
“Anyone of us can go any time but Nigeria requires young
men, young governors whose hands are not soiled.
“This is your country, we are building it for you. If you
want to spoil it, spoil it. But for people like us who are waiting for boarding
pass to rule the country for you, you will be in trouble.”
Clark recalled that as a member of the recently-concluded
National Conference, he had observed that those of them from 70 years and
above, “were at the departure lounge waiting for boarding pass. But when I got
there, they couldn’t give me my boarding pass.
“God said, ‘you have not finished your job, you are one of
those who added to the damage in this country. Go and repair it.’ So, they
refused me boarding pass.”
He advised the youths to “Guard jealously your age. This is
your time. Don’t allow a 73-year-old man who should be getting his boarding
pass to leave, to rule you.”
The former Federal Commissioner for Information also knocked
some persons who he described as “fish out of the water if they are not
ruling.”
On insecurity, Clark observed that people deliberately
engineered the Boko Haram crisis to discredit President Goodluck Jonathan and
later use it to campaign against him.
Speaking earlier, the leader of Northern Youth Vanguard, Mr.
Hameed Olanipekun, had told Clark that they supported the continuity of
President Jonathan in office, saying that they would not allow themselves to be
deceived.
While noting several programmes initiated by the
administration such as YouWIN that were youth-friendly, the group said it had
mapped out a strategy for each member of the vanguard to convince 50 persons to
vote for Jonathan at next month’s presidential election.
Culled from Punch
newspaper
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