Edwin Clark, elder statesman and
leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, has described the naming of the railway
complex in Agbor, Delta state, after ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, as an
insult.
In July, President Muhammadu
Buhari had approved the naming of railway stations after some “deserving
Nigerians”.
Obafemi Awolowo, premier of
western Nigeria; Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Olusola Saraki, former senate
leader; Bola Tinubu, former governor of
Lagos state and Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, were among those honoured.
But in an open letter to Amaechi,
the elder statesman said the gesture is “demeaning”, adding that Jonathan
deserves more than that.
Clark noted that rail transport
is one of Jonathan’s legacies and that bestowing the same honour accorded the
former president to other citizens diminishes the prestige of the ex-president.
He wondered how Awolowo could be
bestowed the same honour as people who “benefited from his Free Education
Scheme in Western Nigeria?”
According to Clark, even if
Jonathan accepts the honour “because he is a gentleman and will not want to
complain to Buhari”, the Ijaw people will not.
He said grouping others alongside
great men like Jonathan and Awolowo is not acceptable and asked the president
“not do to others what he will not like to be done to him”.
He, therefore, asked Buhari to
withdraw the honour and name a more befitting national monument after the
former president.
“Jonathan was the president of
the whole nation. We don’t like anybody to make a mess of him,” he said.
“My main reason for writing this
letter is on the recent action by the Federal Government and the Ministry of
Transportation which is currently under your watch, that is, the naming of the
Agbor Railway Station after His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR,
the immediate past President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“While it is said to be an honour
on the former President by the Federal Government and your Ministry, the
Ministry of Transportation, because it is a known fact that the resuscitation
of rail transport is one of the legacy projects of the former President, but
for us in the Niger Delta and indeed to well-meaning Nigerians this ‘honour’,
diminishes the prestige of a former President when the honour is also bestowed
on others,” Clark said.
“One is not in any way adducing
that the others are not deserving of the honour bestowed on them, but the same
way official responsibilities differ in importance and risks, same
consideration should be borne in mind when honouring people.
“For instance, how can Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, the Premier of Western Nigeria, be honoured with the naming of
a Railway Station after him in addition with persons who were pupils who
benefited from his Free Education Scheme in Western Nigeria? Even in giving
National Honours, there are different awards for different cadre of persons.
“It will interest you to know,
Hon. Minister of Transportation that Chief Lateef Jakande was one of the
closest aides to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and Mr. Alfred Rewane was one of his
(Chief Obafemi Awolowo) assistants, who held the post of a Political Adviser.
So how will such persons feel to be honoured equally with their principal?
“Therefore, naming the railway
station in Agbor, Delta State, ‘Goodluck Jonathan Railway Station and Complex’,
is a misnomer.
“The umbrella body of the Niger
Delta, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), had issued a statement to condemn
this action, which it described as ‘meaningless and belittling to the person
and status of the former President’, and ‘demands the immediate
reversal…Instead, a befitting National Infrastructure should be named after
him.”
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