FORMER Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark has warned that more deadly militants will emerge from the Niger-Delta if the government continues to use the military to tackle the Niger-Delta crisis, saying the militants believe they are fighting for their survival and future of their people and it’s difficult to kill all of them without committing genocide in the region.
Also, ahead of his meeting with Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, after the holidays, to discuss the problem between his government and militants, he has advised the governor not to be unbending on his position that he would not negotiate with militants, saying, “A man should not be too rigid and a politician should be cautious in judging the situation”.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Vanguard at his country home, Kiagbodo in Delta State, yesterday, the Ijaw leader said, “Amaechi’s tough stance cannot bring peace to Rivers State, so he should change his tactics.”
Governor Amaechi reiterated at a church service, Monday, in Port-Harcourt that military option was the only solution to the Niger-Delta crisis, but, Clark said there was nothing wrong in Amaechi changing his position.
Adding, “It is the ability to change is the strength of a leader, a leader should not be too rigid, he should study the circumstances, listen to the voice of the reason and be able to change his tactics, that is no defeat. It is a sign of good leadership; it is a sign of magnimity.”
According to Clark, “When you are fighting a people who have reasons for what they are fighting for like the Niger-Delta people, who have been neglected for over 50 years, people who have nothing to do, yet the wealth of the nation is got from their own backyard, people who have no jobs, the youths have no place to go to, have no employment, they now suspect their elders and fathers, and they are now on the driving seat, if you want to kill them , the JTF will eliminate the whole of the Niger-Delta because trying to kill some of them, new ones will come out because they are fighting for the future for their own survival”.
“So, if the JTF thinks that they can go and try their might, the JTF does not exist alone, it is only the Federal Government that order the JTF to do what they want to do, that is why we are saying that the JTF should be controlled by their headquarters in Abuja, and not to allow them to use their own selfish interests to kill our people.
“If I say that the JTF will not win the war of the creeks, I mean it, they cannot conquer it. If that will make them to try it, then they are out to eliminate the people of the Niger-Delta, which is the meaning of what they would be doing”, he said
Chief Clark, however, said that he had met with the e Minister of Defence, Alhaji Y. Ahmed who is now the Secretary to the Federal Government and he gave him the guarantee that he was going to talk to the JTF, adding, “He is very well calculated fellow.
When I discussed with him, he said he was going to call and discuss with the Chief of Defence Staff and I have no cause to doubt him.”