Elder statesman Edwin Clark has written to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report.
Clark also accused the administration of President Tinubu of continuing the subjugation policy by President Muhammadu Buhari against “Igbos from the South-Eastern part of Nigeria,” regretting that under Tinubu, “the discrimination and injustice against the Igbos has not abated.”
Clark, in the letter dated 13th June, 2024, however urged President Tinubu to carry out an immediate restructuring of Nigeria if the nation must remain one.
“Now that the elections are over, we must face the restructuring of this country,” the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders’ Forum leader said.
“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 elder statesman also weighed in on the travails of the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu who has been in custody since 2021.
He wants Tinubu to apply a political solution to Kanu the way the Federal Government withdrew the three-count terrorism charge it entered against the detained President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore Bello Bodejo.
In his letter, the leader of the Ijaw Nation accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of subjugating Igbos from the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.
The elder statesman claimed that the Buhari administration excluded the South-East from some of his appointments during his time in office.
To Clark, the “discrimination and injustice” against the Igbo had not abated under Tinubu’s administration, adding that while he (Tinubu) appointed 10 ministers from the South-West region, only six had been appointed from the South-East.
“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 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 State came from the North, a non-oil producing region.
“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.