ABUJA—AHEAD of 2015 Presidential election,
former Federal Commissioner for Information
and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday,
reiterated that nobody in Nigeria can stop
President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting.
*Chief Edwin Clark
The elder statesman who noted that Nigeria
belongs to all and no tribe can boast of its
superiority over others, stressed that it was
not speculation that the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, will adopt President
Jonathan as its sole candidate.
Speaking when he received a delegation of
second Republic House of Representatives
members who paid him a visit at his Asokoro
residence in Abuja, Chief Clark maintained
that Nigerian citizens were equal and can
aspire to the highest office in this country,
adding that the person should remain in office
in line with the Constitution of the country.
According to him, in civilised democracies
where the minority and majority ethnic groups
exist, it has never been the prerogative of the
majority ethnic group to lord it over the
minorities.
He said: “For instance,
in Great Britain from
whom we got our independence, there are the
English, the Welsh and the Scottish. The
English are the majority, followed by the
Scottish and then the Welsh. Each of these
ethnic groups has produced the Prime Minister
of Great Britain based on the quality of the
candidate. In fact, in recent times the Scottish
has come to produce more Prime Ministers
than the English who are the majority.”
Chief Clark who noted that it was the
constitutional right of President Jonathan to
contest for re-election in 2015, said, “The
Constitution provided for two terms. In 1979,
Shehu Shagari from the North was president
until 1983 when he got his second term but
Buhari for reasons best known to them, they
thought that at the end of his second ruling he
will hand over to Ekwueme or to Akinloye.
They then staged a coup and drove him
(Shagari) away and imprisoned all the
politicians. Who took over? Another
Northerner.
“ The 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria provides for two tenures of
four years each after two democratically
conducted elections. Apart from the illegality
of the purported agreement with the northern
state governors, such a mindset violates the
letter and spirit of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. There
is no speculation that the PDP is planning to
impose President Jonathan as the sole
candidate of the party in the upcoming
convention.
“The practice in democratic presidential
system of government is that an incumbent
president remains the sole candidate of a
political party at the party’s convention, if he
or she is willing to contest for a second term
in office. This is the practice in the United
States of America from where Nigeria copied
her own model of the presidential system of
government.
“When the American type of presidential
system was adopted in Nigeria in 1978/1979,
former President Shehu Shagari was the sole
candidate of the National Party of Nigeria,
NPN, when he chose to run for a second
tenure in the 1983 Presidential election. Or do
you think there was dearth of qualified
candidates in that era? Note that in the words
of Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe, ‘the NPN had many men
of timber and calibre who were ready to
contest the presidential primaries if Alhaji
Shehu Shagari had not indicated his intention
to contest.’
“The list is endless. In 2003, it was only
through the instigation of some governors led
by Chief James Onanefe Ibori who were
disappointed that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
stepped down for his boss, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo that Dr. Alex Ekwueme was
persuaded to contest the presidential
primaries against the party’s decision.
However, he was defeated by President
Obasanjo who had the party’s blessings.
“To lend credence to the fact that a sitting
president is entitled to a second term, the
ambitious and unpatriotic governors and some
Northern conservative politicians confirmed
this constitutional provision by saying that it
was the second term of the late President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that the North wanted
to complete in 2011. In other words, late
President Yar’Adua was entitled to eight years
in office but Dr. Jonathan is entitled to only a
single term contrary to the 1999 Constitution.
Is that not double standard? What a shame!
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to support
President Jonathan and his transformation
agenda which he said was for the interest of
the country.
Leader of the delegation, Umar Lawan said
they came to celebrate with Clark on his 86
birthday and express the willingness of his
members to support Jonathan’s re-election in
2015 giving his outstanding achievements in
office.
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former Federal Commissioner for Information
and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday,
reiterated that nobody in Nigeria can stop
President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting.
*Chief Edwin Clark
The elder statesman who noted that Nigeria
belongs to all and no tribe can boast of its
superiority over others, stressed that it was
not speculation that the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, will adopt President
Jonathan as its sole candidate.
Speaking when he received a delegation of
second Republic House of Representatives
members who paid him a visit at his Asokoro
residence in Abuja, Chief Clark maintained
that Nigerian citizens were equal and can
aspire to the highest office in this country,
adding that the person should remain in office
in line with the Constitution of the country.
According to him, in civilised democracies
where the minority and majority ethnic groups
exist, it has never been the prerogative of the
majority ethnic group to lord it over the
minorities.
He said: “For instance,
in Great Britain from
whom we got our independence, there are the
English, the Welsh and the Scottish. The
English are the majority, followed by the
Scottish and then the Welsh. Each of these
ethnic groups has produced the Prime Minister
of Great Britain based on the quality of the
candidate. In fact, in recent times the Scottish
has come to produce more Prime Ministers
than the English who are the majority.”
Chief Clark who noted that it was the
constitutional right of President Jonathan to
contest for re-election in 2015, said, “The
Constitution provided for two terms. In 1979,
Shehu Shagari from the North was president
until 1983 when he got his second term but
Buhari for reasons best known to them, they
thought that at the end of his second ruling he
will hand over to Ekwueme or to Akinloye.
They then staged a coup and drove him
(Shagari) away and imprisoned all the
politicians. Who took over? Another
Northerner.
“ The 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria provides for two tenures of
four years each after two democratically
conducted elections. Apart from the illegality
of the purported agreement with the northern
state governors, such a mindset violates the
letter and spirit of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. There
is no speculation that the PDP is planning to
impose President Jonathan as the sole
candidate of the party in the upcoming
convention.
“The practice in democratic presidential
system of government is that an incumbent
president remains the sole candidate of a
political party at the party’s convention, if he
or she is willing to contest for a second term
in office. This is the practice in the United
States of America from where Nigeria copied
her own model of the presidential system of
government.
“When the American type of presidential
system was adopted in Nigeria in 1978/1979,
former President Shehu Shagari was the sole
candidate of the National Party of Nigeria,
NPN, when he chose to run for a second
tenure in the 1983 Presidential election. Or do
you think there was dearth of qualified
candidates in that era? Note that in the words
of Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe, ‘the NPN had many men
of timber and calibre who were ready to
contest the presidential primaries if Alhaji
Shehu Shagari had not indicated his intention
to contest.’
“The list is endless. In 2003, it was only
through the instigation of some governors led
by Chief James Onanefe Ibori who were
disappointed that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
stepped down for his boss, Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo that Dr. Alex Ekwueme was
persuaded to contest the presidential
primaries against the party’s decision.
However, he was defeated by President
Obasanjo who had the party’s blessings.
“To lend credence to the fact that a sitting
president is entitled to a second term, the
ambitious and unpatriotic governors and some
Northern conservative politicians confirmed
this constitutional provision by saying that it
was the second term of the late President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that the North wanted
to complete in 2011. In other words, late
President Yar’Adua was entitled to eight years
in office but Dr. Jonathan is entitled to only a
single term contrary to the 1999 Constitution.
Is that not double standard? What a shame!
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to support
President Jonathan and his transformation
agenda which he said was for the interest of
the country.
Leader of the delegation, Umar Lawan said
they came to celebrate with Clark on his 86
birthday and express the willingness of his
members to support Jonathan’s re-election in
2015 giving his outstanding achievements in
office.
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