Niger Delta Lawyers For Equity, NDLE, a group of lawyers from the Niger Delta have called for an immediate national apology from President Bola Tinubu and Chief of Army Staff over the senseless raiding of Pa Edwin Clark, South-South Leader’s home by soldiers searching for arms.
In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Akpokona Omafuaire and Secretary, Barr Amos David, on Tuesday in Warri, the group is demanding an apology within one week.
According to the statement, “We at Niger Delta Lawyers for Equity read with dismay and utter disbelief the raiding of the home of our South-South Leader in a commando style.
“We want the President and Chief of Defence Staff to tender an unreserved apology within one week, failure of which we shall institute a legal action for this great disrespect and international humiliation.
“While everyone condemned the ill-fated incident near Okuama community and commiserate with families of the slain officers, we want to say that the military operation has gone too far and out of control.
“Pa Clark is the face of the South-South and Niger Delta region, he has paid his dues in the conflagration called Nigeria. And as a result, the raiding of his country home is not only an affront to him but to the whole Niger Delta region and its people.
“We understand that when issues concern the region, the security forces want to show their best destructive skills. If they had deplored same aggression in the insecurity in the North, the issue of Book Haram and bandits will be long gone.
“Pa Clark was one of the first to condemn the killing of soldiers, so why humiliate him for calling for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the heinous crime?
“Can similar action be carried out in the homes of top Fulani and Hausa leaders when such act happened far from their homes in the North?
“We believed it is a calculated move to humiliate and push the voice of the Niger Delta region to early grave. As a result we are demanding a national apology from the president and the Chief of Army Staff and not that caricature call.
“Failure of which within one week, we shall be left with no option but to file an action against them and make a petition to the Amnesty international and United Nation,” the statement added.
