Edwin Clark Too Old To Drag To Court, Not Abreast Of Development In Delta State – Ex Commissioner

By Ayodele Oni

Elder statesman and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clarke has come under criticism for his remarks on the immediate past administration in Delta State.

In a statement, Chief Clark had accused former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of diverting state fund to oil his Vice Presidential ambition.

But a former Commissioner in the State, Charles Aniagwu, in response, said  the elder statesman progressed in error in his comment on the immediate past administration.

The former Commissioner, who served under Okowa,  in a statement, stated that the statement fell below the Chief Clark’s personality.

The Commissioner’s statement was a direct attack on Clark over his strong criticism of Okowa, his administration and his political choices in the 2023 general election, where he was the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

Aniagwu said: “In the case of the Delta State elderstatesman, he progressed in error, and I wouldn’t know whether that means lying.

“The issues he put forth are not original to him. In the course of the election, he had his own candidate in the state election and we defeated that candidate. Perhaps the anger of his candidate losing is still possibly part of what is pulling his position.

“So, we plead with the elder-statesman, the respect we have for him, we will not be in a hurry to withdraw it. If not for his age, I can bet you that my principal (Okowa) would have been in a position to proceed to court.

“But when you drag a 96 year old man to court in Africa where there is a lot of sentiment, the public will turn and say why are you fighting an old man.

“But we plead with him to leave those persons who are giving him those stories which are at variance with reality. The development in Delta is what we are very, very proud of. It is not about what I am saying on TV.

“You can come to Delta and see and you will wonder how Governor Okowa was able to put all these projects on ground. Anytime, any day we will be ready to face anybody and we will show you projects, point by point.

“Whether it is the State Secretariat which is number one in the country or whether it is the different bridges or the Technical Colleges which we have built. We are the only State in this country that established three Universities in one fell swoop and not only that we built three Universities, we are funding them.

“We are the only state in this country where every other University in this country were on strike  ours never went that way.”