Tinubu perpetuating injustice in appointments and funds allocation, he says
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Edwin Clark, elder statesman and Ijaw Nation activist, has accused Bola Tinubu of “discrimination and injustice” against the Igbos, abusing his position as President to continue the rot in system rather than embark on credible reform as he promised on the campaign trail.
Tinubu has ensured the release and return of Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Igboho from Benin Republic but has done nothing about Nnamdi Kanu the Igbo Nation agitator who is being incarcerated in Abuja despite court ruling he has no case to answer and should be released.
Clark lamented the discrimination by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari against Igbos has continued under Tinubu.
He said while Tinubu appointed 10 Ministers from the South West, only five were appointed from the South East, and there is no justification for the anomaly.
Clark spoke up in a letter he wrote to Tinubu.
“President Buhari did everything to subjugate the Igbo for reason best known to him. Perhaps it may be necessary to cite some examples,” he said in the letter, copies of which he gave out to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
“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.
“However, he later tried to amend it when he appointed Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as Chairman of the second board; and he later replaced him with Margery Chuba-Okadigbo before he took office. He (Sen Ifeanyi Ararume) 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, which exceeded 30% of the GDP, which was not in the interest of the country; and the loan of $22.7bn, 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.
“That was 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 three from the South, excluding the Igbo from the South-East.”
Clark lamented that under Tinubu, the “discrimination and injustice” against the Igbos has continued.
“Mr President, even in your administration, the discrimination and injustice against the Igbo 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 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 ministers. There is no justification for this grave omission and no effort has been made to correct it.”
Clark impolored Tinubu to immediately embark on the restructuring of the country and to implement the recommendations 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 Igbos of the South-East 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.”
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