Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has described the administration of former president, Muhammadu Buhari, as biased, unjust, nepotistic, uncivil, and filled with religious bigotry.
In a statement he personally signed, the elder statesman said he found it contradictory that Buhari eulogised his achievements as President during the official unveiling of the book, “Working with Buhari, Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023)” by Femi Adesina and Muhammadu Buhari: The Nigerian Legacy 2015-2023 (I-V), edited by Udu Yakubu.
Clark said: “I watched the public presentation of a book titled “Working with Buhari: Reflections of A Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023)” written in five volumes by Femi Adesina and others, chronicling activities/achievements of Muhammadu Buhari during the eight years of his administration as President and Commander-In-Chief of the country, as contained in about 80 pages of the 488-page book. What struck me most is the attitude and statement of former president, Buhari, who eulogised his achievements as president of the country during the occasion. This, I must say, is contrary to the assessment of majority of Nigerians of his administration.
“To most of us as Nigerians, Muhammadu Buhari failed abysmally as president. His administration was full of insecurity, economic collapse, injustice, religious bigotry and lack of direction. The eight years of his administration plunged Nigeria and Nigerians, five decades backwards. Even his successor, the current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noted as much in his speech at the same occasion where Buhari was eulogising himself.
“For me, this will not be the first time I will be making this observation. In an almost 12-page farewell message I wrote to Muhammadu Buhari, on the eve of his exiting as president of the country, 28th May 2023, I said as much.”
Clark, who reproduced his farewell letter he wrote to the former President, insisted that he left Nigeria worse than he left it.
“The truth is, President Muhammadu Buhari is leaving the nation, especially the Niger Delta region, worse than he met it.
“He is bequeathing bouquet of unfulfilled promises, divided nation and myriad of critical federal infrastructural projects in shameful states, especially roads, and particularly in the Niger Delta region; in addition to the debilitating state of insecurity in most parts of the country, being perpetrated by the menacing killer herders, Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists, heinous bandits, kidnappers and sundry criminals; to the extent that a vast majority of citizens, particularly the youths, are gripped by feelings of annihilation, fear and desperation due to lack of adequate protection by the government resulting to the now common “japa syndrome”, where leaving the country has become the aspiration of most active Nigerians,” he said.
@Sun