Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State has described as irresponsible; the statement made by prominent Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark, alleging that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, misadvised President Goodluck Jonathan to declare partial state of emergency in three north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
Clark, an elder statesman had while addressing the press on Wednesday described Mr. Adoke as a failure in the President Jonathan’s administration having misadvised the President to declare partial state of emergency in the three frontline States.
Reacting through the Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmad Sajoh, Governor Nyako,
also described the letter Mr. Clark wrote to the AGF as “most unfortunate, perfidious” and jaundiced to borrow from some of the words he used”.
According to the Governor, “If the letter was intended to X-ray the activities and actions of a Minister of the Federal Republic, then it was wrongly worded, badly crafted and irresponsibly presented.
“All it did was to promote and foster a narrow political agenda anchored on politics of bitterness, hatred, ethnicity and religious bigotry.
“It is sad that such self confessed ethnic jingoist and sectional champion who is very close to the President could declare openly in a document that the duties of political office holders in this administration is “replying or confronting the insults and abuses poured on Mr. President”.
“We find it highly disturbing that persons who have the President’s ear could so succinctly spell out the mandate of public office holders under this presidency.
“It goes further to confirm why we are overwhelmed by all governance issues including security. When you narrow the Mandate of public officers to such mundane and trivial issues, how can we not have our Polytechnics closed for one year, Colleges of Education for six months, Federal Medical Centres on strike and host of other set-backs suffered by the masses of the land?
“Edwin Clark should know that his continued insults and promotion of narrow ethnic agendas will not be of any benefit to Nigeria and Nigerians.
“We urge His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to distance himself from such self-serving,, selfish and jaundiced statement from his kinsmen who are his real enemies.
“Part of the reason why the President finds it difficult to effectively govern this country is because such self-serving ethnic jingoists, religious bigots and sectional champions have beclouded his vision from seeing the bigger picture.
“He has been made to view governance through the narrow prison of just friends and enemies. While we have no means of helping him identify his friends, we wish to advice him to note that most of the imagined enemies presented to him are not real.
“His real enemies are those urging him to jettison the Constitution which is the instrument that made him President for some “undefined spectrum of inherent powers” which exists entirely outside the law and in the minds of the proponents like Edwin Clark.
“Edwin Clark should know that any call for a “so called total State of Emergency” is outside the confines of the law. It is absurd and a path which will lead Nigeria into anarchy. Impunity and Lawlessness are the major ingredients for anarchy in any society”.
