South-East has three oil producing states, they are key stakeholders-Clerk tells Tinubu

Leader of the Ijaw Nation, Chief Edwin Clark has stated that former President Muhammadu Buhari did everything to subjugate Igbos and that it led to the economic challenges Nigeria is facing today.

Clark said Buhari excluded the South-East from some of his appointments and it should be corrected.

Clark in his letter to President Bola Tinubu 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.

He said “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 Staff came from the North, a non-oil producing region.

“However, he later tried to amend it when he appointed Sen Ifeanyi Ararume as chairman of the second board; and he later replaced him with Margery Chuba-Okadigbo before he took office. He (Senator 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 Republics 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.”