Tony Ezeagwu, the chairman of the defunct Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and now a top official of the Labor Party (LP) in Delta State chapter, has accused former Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, a former federal commissioner of Information and an Ijaw leader, of accepting an inducement of N14.5 million from Great Ovedje Ogboru, the DPP’s governorship candidate in 2007 and 2011, promising to woo Ijaw voters for Mr. Ogboru in 2011.
Mr. Ezeagwu made the allegation last week in Asaba, the state capital, as he refuted media reports in which Mr. Clark reportedly claimed that he raised N42 million for Mr. Ogboru’s governorship campaign in 2011.
The LP officially insisted that Mr. Ogboru sent N14.5 million to Mr. Clark through former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe. He added that the Ijaw political figure could not deny receiving Mr. Ogboru’s cash.
“Ogboru gave E.K Clark N14.5 million through Orubebe that cannot be denied from any source. That money was given to him to enable him [to] deliver Ogboru in the Ijaw area. He requested for it and it was in turn given to him. But the promise to deliver Ogboru in those areas was not fulfilled. I don’t know why people will just want to make cheap popularity by trying to blackmail people,” said Mr. Ezeagwu. He said Mr. Clark “was on oath” in Mr. Ogboru’s election petition against Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, but turned around to ask some of the petitioners to embrace Mr. Uduaghan.
Mr. Ezeagwu, who is currently the state chairman of the Labor Party, said he was aware of N42 million was raised and given to a group called DCC, an appendage of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), headed by Mr. Clark. However, he stated emphatically that the money was not at any time given to Mr. Ogboru as Mr. Clark alleged.
Said Mr. Ezeagwu, “There was a group called DCC, which E.K Clark and his group were using at that time. They came and said they wanted to support us. This money [Edwin Clark] is talking about, Ogboru never touched that money. Neither did I touch it or see it. DCC members shared this money among themselves, [saying] they were going to work for DPP. Ogboru never made away with their money. It was brought and shared among their group and they also wanted to hijack our structure at that time.
“It’s good to put the record straight. We didn’t know whether they used the money for us or not, but they said they were going to work for us. If not for the fact that we are magnanimous, would we even say that the money was used for us when it was not given to us?”
The LP official said it was unfortunate that a man like Mr. Clark would “wake up and begin to make this kind of insinuation to tarnish a young man’s image.”
Two weeks ago, Mr. Clark had alleged that he raised N42 million and gave to Mr. Ogboru for the 2011 governorship election in Delta State, adding that the then DPP candidate ran away with the money.