- Reveals How Igbos’ Disunity, Selfishness, Greed Cost Obi Presidency
- Accuses Tinubu Of Perpetrating Injustice Against Igbos
- Demands Immediate Restructuring Of Nigeria To Ensure Unity
- Charges President To Apply Political Solution To Nnamdi Kanu’s Case
In the aftermath of the Democracy Day celebration, elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has penned a weighty letter to President Bola Tinubu on the state of the nation.
In the letter dated 13th June, 2024 and made available to journalists, Clark, the convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), touched on several issues.
Speaking on the last general election, Clark revealed how Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party lost the election due to disunity, greed and selfishness of the Igbos.
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“The most recent opportunity the Igbos had to rebuild their broken leg was when their disunity, selfishness, and greed made the popular Igbo candidate, Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party, lose the election because most Igbos refused to unite behind him with their resources before and during the election, and voting for him massively in the South-East on the election day was like medicine after death” he wrote.
Continuing, he lamented that the discrimination against the people of the south-east region which was evident in the ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has continued unabated under the administration of Tinubu.
He added that while he (Tinubu) appointed 10 ministers from the South-West region, only five had been appointed from the South-East.
“President Buhari did everything to subjugate the Igbos for reasons best known to him. Perhaps it may be necessary to cite some examples; the NNPC board which he constituted when he came into office had nine members, one from the South-West, one from the South-South, and no member from the South-East, even though three South-East states; Abia, Anambra, and Imo are oil producing states; the remaining members including his Chief of Staff came from the North, a non-oil producing region.
“Mr President, even in your administration, the discrimination and injustice against the Igbos has not abated. The old Eastern Region and the old Western Region, to which I belonged, were equal competitors and partners before and during the First and Second Republic but today, you have appointed 10 Yorubas as Ministers from the South-West, and only five (5) Ministers from the South-East, and you even failed to give them the ministerial appointment due to their region that would have made it six (6) Ministers.
There is no justification for this grave omission and no effort has been made to correct it,” he added.
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The Niger Delta elder charged Igbos of “Southeast or wherever they are in Nigeria,” to stand up and “assert their rights legitimately, judiciously and in a democratic way, to benefit like any other Nigerian as it was before the civil war of 1967.”
“All that is required is for us to demonstrate reciprocal respect, love, and understanding to one another,” the PANDEF convener said.
“Let us do what is right; let us accommodate one another and be fair to one another.”
He also demanded the immediate restructuring of the country to ensure the unity of Nigeria while also demanding the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report.
“Now that the elections are over, we must face the restructuring of this country. I repeat, the immediate restructuring of Nigeria must be carried out if this country is to remain one, and I appeal to Mr President to take immediate action to implement the historic 2014 National Conference Report which submitted 600 recommendations to the Presidency on how to restructure Nigeria in every aspect of our lives” the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders’ Forum leader said.
The elder statesman also weighed in on the travails of the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu who has been in custody since 2021.
He urged Tinubu to apply a political solution to Kanu the way the Federal Government withdrew the three-count terrorism charge it entered against the detained President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Bello Bodejo.
