… As lawmakers eulogised late Clark
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has faulted remarks attributed to former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, who said the efforts of Nigerian nationalists have been rubbished as the nation.
The former LP presidential candidate stated this on Wednesday at a memorial lecture for the late nationalist and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Pa Edwin Clark.
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He said, “I spoke a few days ago and people said I’m demarketing Nigeria. When is speaking the truth being demarketing Nigeria? The World Bank has just shown that 75% of Nigerians in rural areas are poor.
“Is the World Bank demarketing Nigeria? UNICEF two days ago released that Nigerians now have over two million malnourished children, the second highest in the world, are they demarketing Nigeria?
“Let’s tell the truth. Their labour is in vain. We have a country now that is not democratic. We are not a democratic country.
“It is in vain. So we can start picking the pieces now because they’ve destroyed everything people have sacrificed for.
“Look at what is happening in Nigeria today. The country people sacrificed have turned into a crime scene. All we do today is stealing, stealing, stealing, stealing.
“And we have to do something. All we need to do is live a courageous life.
“May God Almighty that calls him home grant him eternal rest and grant us the courage to look into what our father lived for and start picking our pieces.”
But while making his concluding remarks at the valedictory session for the late Edwin Clark, Senator Akpabio said the LP presidential candidate was economical with the truth in his appraisal of development in the country.
Akpabio said, “The labours of our heroes weren’t in vain. The likes of Clark worked to keep Nigeria together.
“When somebody says the labour of our heroes were in vain, I beg to disagree.
“You can’t even resolve the crisis in the Labour Party. Is it the crisis of Boko Haram that you will come and resolve in Nigeria?
“I would like us to be known for what we did when we had the opportunities. As I speak now, I can tell you about the dualised thoroughfares in my city. I can tell you about the best international hospitals in my city.
“I can tell you about the monuments of government houses for the governor and deputies. I built one of the best digitalised governor’s offices. I can tell you about the free and compulsory education.
“I can tell you about the unity I brought in religion by sponsoring over 5,800 Muslims, over 12,000 Christians to Rome and to Jerusalem but then those who are aspiring as presidential candidates to cause division with their mouths using the social media tell them to resolve the small party they have in that before they come to talk about the larger Nigeria but for the social media that is unregulated.
“I wish him luck. May we rise to observe one minute’s silence in honour of the departed.”
Earlier in his presentation, Leader of the Senate, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele recalled Edwin Clark contribution as a federal lawmaker in the Second Republic, “where he completed a full term of four years in 1983. While serving in the Senate, he made indelible marks as an astute leader and a renowned voice for national unity and regional integration”.
The leader of the Senate equally enumerated the late statesman’s contributions in the field of education and troubleshooting efforts to restore peace in the South-South region.
“Pa. Edwin Clark was a nationalist, renowned Lawyer, seasoned administrator, philanthropist, and an astute advocate for the rights of the Niger Delta. He founded the Edwin Clark Foundation and established a University of Technology in his hometown to advance the course of education in Nigeria.
“He also played several mediation roles to unite warring communities in the Niger Delta. Indeed, his absence will be greatly felt in this country, as his wise counsel had been relied upon in the past to handle some knotty and highly contentious national issues.
“It is our solemn prayer that God will grant him eternal repose and comfort his family as we mourn the death of this great man of honour and an Elder Statesman.”
He urged the federal government to immortalise the late former federal commissioner “by naming a major national monument after him for his indelible and undeniable contribution to the sustenance of democracy and the development and unity of this country.”
Senator Seriake Dickson said Clark lived a dignified life since his days as student leader to when he breathed his last.
He urged the elite to emulate the ideals of the late Clark by working for the survival of Nigeria.
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