Elder statesman and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has expressed displeasure at President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance on restructuring.
Clark explained that the President’s position on restructuring the country is opposed to the the popular aspiration of Nigerians.
Clark spoke on Thursday in his Kiagbodo country home in Burutu, Delta State while receiving a delegation from the palace of the Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Ikenwoli, ed by Prince Toritseju Emiko.
The Ijaw leader expressed disappointment in the president’s New Year message, which, he said, failed to address the most pressing issues to Nigerians.
According to him, only restructuring would end the system where some Nigerians are treated as second class citizens, urging the president to stop sticking to an unpopular opinion.
He said: “Mr. President was not addressing Nigerians. The New Year speech is supposed to be an address to the people, telling them what you have done or the ones you have been doing. The current discussion in Nigeria today is restructuring.
“The Afenifere, governors and others are all discussing restructuring. The people of the Southsouth are the most affected. 87 per cent of our revenue comes from the Southsouth. Nigerians believe in restructuring. I was very much disappointed that the President said he does not want restructuring.
“Northerners are talking of restructuring; you have heard the Sultan of Sokoto, Balarabe Musa all of them are part of the majority of Nigerians talking about restructuring. El- Rufai heads APC committee on restructuring. Even the northerners have not rejected restructuring.
“The National Assembly has no choice but must follow the people, what the people are saying if majority of Nigerians say they want restructuring the National Assembly has no choice. Nigeria must solve the structural problem in the country where only some ethnic groups can be governors in a state where there are others; where some regions have more states and local governments than others. If we don’t restructure Nigeria some people will be treated as second class citizens.”
Clark commended the Olu of Warri for strengthening ethnic harmony among ethnic nationalities in Delta State.
The Ijaw leader, who said his great grant father’s mother was from an Itsekiri community known as Ugbokodo, urged the tribes in Warri to live in unity.
