By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South

ELDER statesman and former Federal Commis-sioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday (Friday,) said that at the age of 89 years, he would not head any team of Niger Delta leaders to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, rather, he would send a delegation with the authority of other elders to dialogue with the Presidency.

E. K. Clark

He also said that since the most dangerous group in the region, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, and a host of other militant groups had ceased hostilities in obedience to the leaders of the region, while the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, had also disbanded its Aaron Team 2 and pledged its 100 per cent loyalty to the leaders of the region, the leaders were waiting for the Federal Government to set the ball rolling for dialogue.

Chief Clark, who spoke on phone to Saturday Vanguard, said: “Please, allow me to correct an impression. I have heard many things about what people are saying. At 89 years old when I am overdue for my boarding pass at the invitation of Almighty God to the world beyond; it should be clear that I am not looking for relevance.”

“Therefore, I am not going to lead the delegation of leaders of Niger Delta coastal states to meet with President Buhari. I am old, I do not have that strength to be going about from one place to the other. We have younger people; we have to select one of them to lead the delegation representing the ethnic nationalities of the region to go for us and when they come back, they will report to the elders,” he said.

“What I am interested in is peace in the Niger Delta; I cannot see the Niger Delta burning and keep quiet. I had spoken out against the bombings in the region many months ago, but the boys did not listen. But I will not say that because they did not listen at the time and I should keep quiet while the house is on fire.

“That is the reason I am involved in this matter. Niger Delta cannot be on fire and I say that I had spoken, the boys did not hear and government did not hear also, so I decided to keep quiet, many will not forgive me because what is happening is destroying the economy of the nation and ecology of the region,” he said.

Chief Clark asserted: “The matter is not about Clark, it is about Nigeria and Niger Delta and I only felt I should provide the missing leadership. I am not looking for any appointment or opportunity to lead any delegation. I have been everything one would want to be in life, except President of the country, which I cannot be at my age.”

His words: “I have to be very frank with you: “On May 9, I openly condemned the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in an open letter for their bombings and appealed to them to stop. They did not listen. Sometime in July, I sat and was asking myself, does their refusal mean that the bombings should be allowed to continue?”

“I do not have knowledge of who they are, but I know they are from Niger Delta and I have been involved in the search for peace in Niger Delta before now. I called the former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo and we started discussing how to handle the matter.

“We agreed that first, they should be a meeting of Ijaw leaders for us to find out from our home what Ijaw people know about those bombing the pipelines, which Ijaw people are known for in the country. That was how we came about July 31 meeting of Ijaw leaders, attended by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, Deputy Governor of Delta State, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro and Ijaw leaders from Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Ondo and Delta states,” he said.

The Ijaw national leader said it was after the meeting it dawned on them that the matter was beyond the Ijaw ethnic nationality, adding: “Bozimo and I met again with younger elements, including T. K Ogoriba and his group, Chief Dan Ekpebide, Kennedy Orubebe, Hendrix Opukeme and others.