{"id":6368,"date":"2015-10-08T04:48:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T04:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=6368"},"modified":"2015-10-08T04:48:32","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T04:48:32","slug":"jonathan-meant-well-for-this-country-but-the-will-power-to-fight-corruption-was-not-there-ek-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=6368","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJonathan meant well for this country, but the will power to fight corruption was not there” EK Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ijaw leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, on Wednesday, said former President Goodluck Jonathan lacked the political will to fight corruption.<\/p>\n

Clark also said he was no longer a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and would not join the All Progressives Congress (APC) but would function as an elder statesman.<\/p>\n

The Ijaw leader also declared support for President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s war on corruption and terror.<\/p>\n

Clark made the declaration while receiving members of the Think Nigeria First Initiative (TNFI) in Abuja.<\/p>\n

\u201cJonathan didn\u2019t have the political will to fight corruption. He\u2019s too much of a gentleman. Drivers of yesterday were living in palatial buildings now under his government. In advanced countries, when you are living above your means, people query you. That\u2019s not so in Nigeria. Former governors and lawmakers are now asking for immunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Clark\"<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an ideal society, when a man who earns 20,000 as his monthly salary and all of a sudden he acquire something that is worth N100,000, he should be questioned, but here in Nigeria, immunity has covered those that should be questioned. That is not the kind of country that we want. Being a gentleman is not enough to govern this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark condemned the activities of the Boko Haram sect, saying: \u201cBoko Haram is a problem for all of us Nigerians and we must all fight it together\u201d.<\/p>\n

On corruption, Clark declared: \u201cThe government has the right to investigate, prosecute and jail corrupt people whether they are Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani or Igbo\u2026 corruption is a monster that must be fought.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians are mostly the most corrupt people in Nigeria. That is why every governor wants to become a senator so that he will continue to enjoy immunity from probe and prosecution for corrupt practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also implored the president to implement the good programmes initiated by the past administration, adding that \u201cit is not everything done by your opponent that is bad. Select the good ones and implement them and ignore the bad ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding quitting the PDP, Clark said: \u201cI no longer belong to any political party. I am no more in PDP and won\u2019t move to APC. As I almost clock my 90th birthday, I will rather continue to advocate for better, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria and die gracefully on Nigerian soil.\u201d<\/p>\n

While thanking the TNFI for their courtesy visit, Clark declared his support and encouraged the initiative to keep thinking Nigeria first, ahead of any personal, ethnic or political sentiment.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, the director-general of the TNFI, Abubakr Tsani , said the group was nonpartisan, non-religious, non-ethnic support organisation for just causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ijaw leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, on Wednesday, said former President Goodluck Jonathan lacked the political will to fight corruption. Clark also said he was no longer a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and would not join the All Progressives Congress (APC) but would function as an elder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[500,299,197,897],"class_list":["post-6368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-chief-edwin-clark","tag-goodluck-jonathan","tag-mohammadu-buhari","tag-think-nigeria-first-initiative"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Clark.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-1EI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6369,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions\/6369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}