No regret over Ibori being sentenced, says Clark

By The Nation: Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

SOUTHSOUTH leader Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark will be sad today if former governors James Ibori is sentenced. He, however, said he will not regret the development as it will server as deterrent to those with corruption tendencies in Delta. According to him, corruption is the greatest canker worm that have eating deep into the nation.
Clark, who spoke yesterday in his country Kiagbodo home,  in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, told reporters that lbori’s criminal attitude has brought bad image to the state.
He said there was no way Nigeria can grow or develop because corruption has taken over in the judiciary and every sector of government, noting that  corruption has become an industry which some concerned Nigerians have been trying  to eradicate.
According to the elder statesman, Ibori would not have walked his way into trouble if he had not tried to become a power broker after leaving the office.
Clark said: “It was when lbori started to parade himself as a celebrity on the corridor of power  during the administration of former president, the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua’s and part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that we said no, this should not happen. And he even wanted to be the president, the whole issue amounted to his own attitude and he never stopped stealing even after he left office.
“lbori was still stealing from Delta state because after he  left office his brother was still there. So, whatever he could not complete then, he was completing  under his brother and there are many cases of such only that we do not want to embarrass the present government.”
On whether if the monies that were stolen by the lbori’s administration will be safe if they are return to the state government, Clark said that the funds stolen by the ex-governor and the property should be return to the state since they are still around.
“Since we are around nobody will tamper with the funds as we will see to it that they used for the development of state. So, we are not afraid and not worried, let the funds be brought to us. 
“Those of us who fault for the conviction of lbori are still around and we don’t believe the present government will do anything to give the impression that he doesn’t want Delta to benefit from the money that belongs to it.
“We will monitor it because the money is coming through the Federal Government and at that stage we will ask the Federal Government to announce what came so that it will not be treated like General Abacha’s looted money.”
Clark lamented that Delta state has received more than since lbori and the present governor came into power, but yet there are no meaningful development or completed projects and even the Asaba Airport which is so vital to this state has not been completed, not even the Asaba/Ughelli dual carriage road that has been abandoned.