Friday, June 14, 2024 - The leader of the Ijaw Nation, Chief Edwin Clark has stated that former President Muhammadu Buhari did everything to subjugate Igbos from the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.
Clark further claimed that Buhari
excluded the southeast from some of his appointments during his time in office.
Clark stated this in a letter to
President Bola Tinubu, where he pointed out that Buhari did not appoint anyone
from the South East in the Board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation,
even though the region had three oil-producing states including Abia, Anambra
and Imo States.
Clark said 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.
“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.
Clark also stated that the “discrimination
and injustice” against the Igbo had not abated under Tinubu’s administration,
noting that while he (Tinubu) appointed 10 ministers from the Southwestern
region, only six had been appointed from the South, adding that there was no
justification for the omission.
“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, called on Tinubu
to immediately restructure the country if the nation was to remain one. He also
called for the implementation of the 600 recommendations of the 2014 National
Conference Report, and for the Igbos to stand up and legitimately assert their
rights.
“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 Buhari did everything to subjugate Igbos during his administration - Edwin Clark
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