Prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark on Saturday asked President Umaru Yar�Adua to authorise investigations into allegations that the immediate past Rivers State government was paying militants in the area N100 million monthly until the middle of last year.
He said the payments marked the beginning of impunity in the region and that the present bloody fracas in the area could be due to the decision of the present government to discontinue such illegal acts.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Clark also asked Yar�Adua to personally visit the Niger Delta region as a way of reassuring the people of government�s concern on the development of the area.
The visit, he said, would enable Yar�Adua appraise the situation in the area and be better positioned to understand the urgency of the Niger Delta situation in terms of developments in line with his seven-point agenda.
Clark said: “We are asking what the Federal Government has done about the Rivers State Government paying N100 million monthly to (the militants) when the same Federal Government said that nobody should pay militants any money for any reason.
“If the Rivers State Government had not been paying the N100 million, let them say so. Let them deny. I can�t make such a statement if I don�t believe it to be true and I don�t know what I am saying.”
Clark also demanded a quick investigation into and prosecution of allegations of fraud and abuse of office by some former governors.
He said: “Those who have not been charged to court for corruption should be so charged. This is unlike the former era where the former President was protecting corrupt Governors in the region.
“The accusations have been made. They should be charged to court. The Federal Government has a duty to see that this country is freed from corruption.
“If corruption is not tackled, if this President does not adhere to his zero-tolerance for corruption, then we are going back to ground zero when Nigeria shared the ground position with Bangladesh.”
On the current militant crises at Okrika, Clark urged the Federal Government to wade into the detention in Angola of a Niger Delta militant, Henry Okah. He said the detention was complicating peace efforts in the area.
He explained: “We are not defending criminality. But his arrest is causing the youths in the creeks to raise issues with it. It is agitating some youths in the riverine. They are even accusing me of collaboration.
“They said Henry Okah is one of the youth leaders of the Niger Delta in the commencement of dialogue towards peace with the present government.
“It is on this score that the Vice President traveled to South Africa. The early conclusion of the Okah matter will go a long way to contribute to the efforts at finding peace and security in the Niger Delta.”
It was his view that�under international law (Vienna Convention of 1963), the Federal Government “has a duty to protect their nationals and offer them all necessary support even when under detention. “Therefore, the Government of Nigeria has a responsibility to ensure that Okah, regardless of whatever offence he committed, has due process which should take its normal course.
“To keep him in detention without due process could continue to raise all sorts of problems and concerns amongst his friends and Nigerians who fear that they too may be similarly neglected if they have any problem abroad.
“No one is trying to justify or hold brief on whatever Okah is accused of doing. He is a Nigerian and the Nigerian Government has a fundamental duty to protect his human rights.
“It is urgent for the Government of Nigeria and Angola to address this indefinite detention of Okah and his colleagues in Angola for months without a formal charge or trial.”
Clark also condemned the occupation of Okrika by the Joint Task Force (JTF). He said the timing “is very wrong especially at a time when the Presidency is discussing with the people on ways of bringing peace to the region.”
He said further: “The former Minister of Transport, Dr Abiye Sekibo has no reason to talk about this. He should not accuse the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi of any complicity.”