By James EZEMA
It was supposed to be a cultural day event as organised by United Rivers and Bayelsa States Indigenes Association, Lagos, but it was understandably turned into a campaign ground for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s presidency come this January.

The tone of the occasion changed after former Minister of Information Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, unequivocally declared that the President shall be a candidate in January presidential election.

Though he did tactically avoided mentioning the political platform on which Jonathan was going to emerge as candidate, he disclosed that he had to move to Abuja since 23 December last year when it was discovered that some South-South Governors were opposed to Jonathan, then acting presidency, maintaining that those opposed to him will fail again.

He added that President Jonathan is set to declare his intention to run for president on September 18, even as he said: “Four years ago, Jonathan won by somebody who was his leader. But by next year January, Jonathan is going to contest election as a presidential candidate of this country and I think Nigerians are already feeling the impact of who is there.

“This is time for all of us to come together and support our son, appeal to all Nigerians to support him”, Clark said.

Also speaking at the event, Niger Delta activist, Ms Ann Kio Briggs said the only obstacle against Jonathan presidency next year is from the South-South, apparently referring to some Niger Delta governors said to be opposed to Jonathan’s presidential ambition, saying “Jonathan will not be worse than any other Nigerian who had governed this country in the past.

Our son and daughters that are not on this bandwagon to move this nation forward, particularly Niger Delta, we’ll point them out and we’ll disgrace them”.
Chief Clark who was the father of the day, therefore, urged the people of the region to close ranks and rally support for their own son, saying that the South-East and South-West leaders have since declared their support for Jonathan.

In the same vein, former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alabo T. Graham-Gouglas told the people, “get ready for war; election is coming, register to vote”, adding that many gladiators who had cornered the wealth of the nation, generated from the region would want to stop Jonathan next January.

He insisted that the God of Oloibiri, where oil was first discovered in the Niger Delta had pity on the region and “brought out somebody, Otueke in Bayelsa, in Niger Delta, son arose and how he became a deputy governor was a mystery, how he became a governor was a mystery, how he became a vice president was a mystery and how he eventually became a president was also a mystery”, Graham-Douglas said.

Speaking further, Chief Clark noted: “God is not responsible for our present condition, we’re responsible for our present condition because if you did not say I’m around, nobody will say so and you have allowed yourself to be a second class citizen in your our country.

“Fifty years ago, when our fathers were troubling to be noticed in the Nigerian scene, nobody regarded us as anything and that time you were even ashamed to be called an Ijaw.

“In 2005 when I led the South-South deligation to the national conference and I was wearing (my hart) and they said, ‘resource control’; they were laughing at me but today, everybody wants to be like Jonathan”, Clark said.

According to him, Jonathan became president because God decided to end the marginalisation of the region, asking “would you have thought of that 50 years ago? When one was being oppressed, God said ‘enough is enough, I’ve decided to put the presidency of this country in that neglected area and nobody can change it. It was not by his (Jonathan’s) power, not by our power”.