The leader of the Ijaw Nation, Chief Edwin Clark says while former President Muhammadu Buhari did everything to subjugate Igbos from the South-Eastern part of Nigeria, for reasons best known to him, it has continued unabated under President Bola Tinubu’s superintendence.
Clark stated this in a letter to President Tinubu, noting that Buhari excluded the southeast from some of his appointments during his time in office.
He also recalled that Mr. Buhari refused to appoint anyone from the South East in his constitution of the Board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, even though the region had three oil-producing states including Abia, Anambra and Imo States.
The elderstatesman further recounted how Buhari allocated less than 1% of a $22.7bn loan to the South East zone, while others received higher percentages, adding that the former President also failed to appoint service chiefs from the region.
Clark however regretted that the “discrimination and injustice” against the Igbo had not abated under Tinubu’s administration, pointing out that while he (Tinubu) appointed 10 ministers from the Southwestern region, only six had been appointed from the South.
“The Igbos of Southeast or wherever they are in Nigeria, must 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,” he beckoned, saying that there was no justification for the discrimination and injustice.
He wrote, “President Buhari did everything to subjugate the Igbos for reason 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 9 members, 1 from the South-West, 1 from South-South, and no member from the South-East, even though 3 South-East states; Abia, Anambra and Imo are oil producing states; the remaining members including his Chief of State came from the North, a non-oil producing region.
“However, he later tried to amend it when he appointed Sen Ifeanyi Ararome as chairman of the second board; and he later replaced him with Margery Chuba-Okadigbo before he took office. He (Senator Ifeanyi Ararome) took the matter to court and won but the situation has not changed.
“Also, when President Buhari attempted to obtain loans from foreign financial institutions that exceeded 30% of the GDP which was not in the interest of the country; and the loan of $22.7 billion (USD), of which less than 1% of the amount was to be allocated to the South-East zone while other zones were allocated higher percentage for infrastructural projects, is a violation of the constitutional requirement to ensure a balanced economic development of Nigeria in accordance with President Buhari’s Oath of Office. In President Buhari’s 17-man security chiefs, 14 of them came from the North and only 3 from the South excluding the Igbos from the South East,” the letter read.Related News
Clark added, “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.
The elder statesman further urged Tinubu to immediately restructure the country if the nation was to remain one.
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