Identify Boko Haram members, Clark tells northern govs

Posted by admin Boko Haram, General Politics, Governors, Top Stories Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Prominent Ijaw leader and First Republic Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has called on the governors of the 19 northern states to identify the leaders of the Boko Haram sect for negotiation.

Clark said it was the responsibility of the governors of the North to also identify the grievances of the members of the sect for the Federal Government to commence the peace process with them.

Clark made this comment at a special programme with the theme ‘The Need for National Cooperation and Nation Building’ organised by the Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum (Oporoza House), to celebrate President Goodluck Jonathan’s one year in office in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Ijaw leader challenged the northern governors to take a cue from him and then then Vice Presdient Jonathan, who, in 2007, when they visited the Niger Delta militants in the creeks to commence the process of negotiation for lasting peace in the region.

He said he and the then Vice President appealed to repentant militants to drop their arms for peace to return.

He said, “We do hope that the 19 governors in the North will also go to their states to identity their boys, take note of their grievances, make peace with them and the Federal Government will recognise them like we did in the Niger Delta.

“The then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and I visited the creeks to beg our boys; that is how peace returned to our region.”

However, Clark was silent on the raging issue of whether President Goodluck Jonathan would run in 2015 or not.

He said, “We are not talking about campaign; all we are asking for is that Nigerians should be patient with us as manifold harvests of development will be reaped in the next three years.”

Speaking also at the event, a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Ghana, called on Nigerians to give the deserved attention to security in the society.

He said security should be of serious concern at the family, community, local government and state levels.

He called on Nigerians to take the advantage of the forthcoming constitutional amendment to ensure that the Federal Government was decongested of its excess responsibilities.

He insisted that power had become too centralised in the country.wp_posts