President Bola Tinubu has been advised to immediately implement the recommendations of the 2014 national conference to properly integrate Igbos in the country.
Elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark made the call in an open letter to the president on Thursday
While extending his heartfelt congratulations to Tinubu on his “memorable one year in office,” he told him that he is worried about the fate of the younger generation as he wondered what hope they have for the future.
Noting the position of the young independent Igbos, he said: “Any child in any of the parts of that pot, when he or she grows to 17, 18, 19 and becomes independent of his parents and is able to reason for himself, has the right to ask whether he is truly part of this country when all that he sees is discrimination, hatred, injustice, unfairness in the offices, in the street, at workplaces and even in institutions of the government and wonders of the widening gap between the rich and the poor. It is pathetic and unacceptable.”
Clark asserted that no one part of the country has a greater right to it than the other.
“The Igbos of the South East deserve to have a sense of belonging in this Country. All that is required is for us to demonstrate reciprocal respect, love and understanding to one another.
Let us do what is right, let us accommodate one another, and be fair to one another,” he said.
The leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) noted the historical problems faced by the South East, saying: “One of the setbacks for the Igbo’s was the continuous military rule between 1966 and 1999, where all the Military Heads of state came from the North, who had the opportunity to impose their will and desire on other parts of the country. “For instance, Kano State had 44 local governments, and when Jigawa State was created from them, Jigawa State was given 27 local governments, while Kano State retained its 44 local governments.
“The whole of the Eastern Region made up of five states, has 95 local governments, with only 24 more than Kano and Jigawa States in the North West region, which has seven states and 186 local governments. The North East has 112 Local Governments, the North Central has 115 Local Governments, the South West has 137 Local governments, and the South-South has 123 Local Governments.
“Of the six regions, the South-East has become the smallest region and has politically become the minority in Nigeria. You can therefore imagine that when the 36 state governors are in Abuja for their monthly federal allocation, the south-east with the smallest number of local governments also receives the smallest allocation, and in fact, the number of local governments in the north-west is almost double that of the entire south-east region.”
“At this juncture, it may be necessary to mention a few conditions the Igbos of South-East are being subjected to as if they don’t enjoy equal status with the rest of Nigerians;
“The presence of five states in the south-east is a form of injustice when compared to the six states in other geopolitical zones and seven states in the North-West. The south-east zone has been a victim of inequality, resulting in several agitations,” he added.
Restating his demand for Nigeria to be restructured, Chief Clark added: “I have said that Nigeria must be restructured to correct what I described as the imbalances and make every state equal in the country, stressing that that was why the 2014 National Conference recommended the creation of more states, where the Southeast was given four additional states and three for all other zones except the North-West, which was allotted two because it already has seven states; and if implemented, it would have made the six geopolitical zones of the country to be on par with nine states, and it would have provided for each citizen a stable and united Nigeria, where all its citizens have equal rights. It was regarded as one of the most important recommendations of the conference because it affected every zone of the federation.”
The former minister of information lambasted former president Muhammadu Buhari for his administration’s discriminatory policy towards the South East, alleging that President Tinubu has continued in the same fashion.
“President Buhari did everything to subjugate the Igbos for reasons best known to him,” he said, adding that “Mr. President, even in your administration, the discrimination and injustice against the Igbos have not abated.”
According to Clark, infighting among Igbos cost them the chance to produce the president when they failed to rally around Peter Obi in 2023.
“Many Igbo leaders and politicians opted to be President of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential election; instead of collaborating together, they all chickened out, as if they were the minorities of Nigeria,” he alleged.
He further told President Tinubu: “Now that the elections are over, we must face the restructuring of this country. I repeat again that 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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