*Insists only restructuring can keep Nigeria one
*Treat Nnamdi Kanu like Miyetti Allah leader, he says
By Eze Chukwu
Elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, has written to President Bola Tinubu, demanding the implementation of the 2014 National Conference Report.
Clark, in the letter dated 13th June, 2024 also urged the President to immediately implement 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 Forum (SAMBF) leader stated.
“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 appealed to the President to apply political solution on the Kanu issue 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 the letter, the leader of the Ijaw Nation accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of doing everything to subjugate Ndigbo from the South-Eastern part of the country for reasons best known to him.
According to the elder statesman, the Buhari administration excluded the South-East from his key appointments during his time in office.
According to Chief Clark, the “discrimination and injustice” against the Igbo had not abated under Tinubu’s administration, adding that while Tinubu appointed 10 ministers from the South-West region, only six were appointed from the South-East, adding that there was no justification for such.
“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 Ministers.
“There is no justification for this grave omission and no effort has been made to correct it,” he stressed.
