The Buhari Media Organisation
(BMO) has accused prominent Niger Delta leader, Pa Edwin Clark of deliberately
conflating issues on the proposed naval base in Kano.
The Buhari organization made the
accusation in reaction to the open letter released by Edwin Clark.
The group said Clark released the
letter in order to divert attention from his silence over the grand theft of
public funds recently unearthed in the region.
In a statement signed by its
Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said that the
arguments put up by the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) in the
open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the matter were entirely based on
lies.
The statement said “Like many
Nigerians, we are surprised that after literally disappearing from the public
scene for several weeks, Pa Clark has emerged suddenly, not to speak on the
report of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),
but to push a worn-out allegation of nepotism against the President on what he
called a waste of public fund.
“We wonder what could be more
wasteful than the N6tn that went down the drain through over 13,000 fictitious
projects that were paid for but not delivered within 20 years in the region,
which the elder statesman claims to have so much interest in its development.
“Shouldn’t the elder statesman be
looking at cooperating with the federal authorities and President Buhari, in
particular, to get to the root of this gross injustice to the people he claims
to always speak for?
“But here we have an influential
personality from the region writing a 28-paragraph letter full of lies and
innuendoes based on false premises, like virtually all the allegations of
nepotism he has made against the President since 2015.”
BMO added: “We dare say that the
position taken by Chief Clark on the proposed naval base in Kano showed a clear
ethnic bias that should not be expected from an elder statesman who was once
Nigeria’s information minister.
“A clear insight into this
mindset was his reference to the ongoing AKK gas project which he argued is
from resources from the Niger Delta yet, he completely ignored to even
acknowledge the recently uncovered NDDC heist.”
It also noted that Clark’s lengthy
writeup came few days after the Naval authorities had given a clear insight
into the nature of the proposed base.
“In one of the paragraphs of the
evil missive, the PANDEF leader claimed that ‘Naval services are meant for the
riverine and ocean lines while Air Force and Army are meant for the land areas.
He also went ahead to suggest, almost comically, how it will be impossible to
navigate a navy ship through the waters of Lagos to the desert naval base in
Kano.
“We see this as yet another
instance of Pa Clark’s penchant for miseducating his audience even after the
Naval authorities had responded to public queries over the proposal to have
three naval bases in Lekki, Oguta and Kano.
“We recall that a few days ago,
the Navy gave a detailed explanation of plans to decongest its presence in the
Lagos area by expanding to locations other than Lagos, Calabar, Warri, and Port
Harcourt.
“For starters, Naval Spokesman,
Navy Commodore Suleman Dahun, said in a statement that the base in Kano was
intended to be home of the newly created Nigerian Navy Logistics College, while
noting that ‘all naval establishments and units are called bases,
notwithstanding their physical location,” BMO said.
It added: ”The Navy said that
‘depending on their responsibilities, naval bases could be for operations,
training, logistics or administration’ and pointed at its decision to establish
the Nigerian Navy Finance and Logistics College in Owerrinta, Abia; Nigerian
Navy School of Armament Technology in Kachia, Kaduna; as well as the School of
Health Sciences in Offa, Kwara.”
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