Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, was wrong to describe him as a hater of the Niger Delta region.
The former president said he had never shown anger or distraught to the Niger Delta region or any part of the country.
Clark, had in a recent open later said that Obasanjo’s disdain and insincerity for the people of Niger Delta had not in any way diminished.
The PANDEF leader’s letter was in response to Obasanjo’s comments at a Peace and Security Parley convened by the Global Peace Foundation and Vision Africa in Abuja.
At the event, Obasanjo had attacked the National Secretary of the INC, Ebipamowei Wodu, and argued that the oil found in the Niger Delta does not belong to the people of the region
Clark, among other things, told Obasanjo that his position represented his continuous arrogant stance and disposition against Niger Delta.
But in his response, Obasanjo said in a letter dated December 28, that what Clark referred to as an outburst was his (Obasanjo’s) style of getting people/listeners’ attention.
In his letter titled ‘My response to the open letter by Clark’, the former president said, “Let me proceed with the most basic constitutional fact that you cannot have two entities in a sovereign state.”
Justifying his position, Obasanjo said those who purchase crude from Nigeria enter into contractual relationships with Nigeria and not the Niger Delta.
Speaking on the allegation that he hates the Niger Delta region he said,
“I have never shown any anger, distraught with the Niger Delta region nor any part of Nigeria.
“Some of the languages you have deployed to describe me in your letter are offensive, uncouth and I totally and completely rejected them.
“I am not inconsistent, hypocritical, unstatesman, and nor am I anybody’s lackey.
“You use your own yardstick to judge others. I hope you think and adjust. Negotiation achieves better results than dictation.”