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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has said Gen. Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) should have allowed the Igbo ethnic group to secede during his tenure as military head of state.
In a chat with AriseTV on Tuesday, the 94-year-old said the Igbos are still treated as second class citizens decades after the civil war in the country.
He stressed the need for the region to be treated with a sense of belonging and called on political parties, especially the All Progressives Congress(APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to zone their presidential tickets to the South East.
“When Lord Fredrick Luggard created Nigeria in 1914, it did not say some people are superior to the other. Nigeria was a three-legged pot
“One leg is in the North, the two others in the West and East. But one was destroyed during the war, and Nigeria has not been steady. Nigeria stood on three legs, and it has never been steady since one of the legs was destroyed during the civil war.
“My idea of zoning the Presidency to the South East is well-known. No Nigerian will like to live in a country where certain people believe that they have the only right to lead. The APC believes the 12 million votes by President Muhammadu Buhari might be eroded if it is zoned to the South. The PDP is also considering zoning to the North. This is unfair,” he said.
According to Clark, there was no moral justification for keeping people who are not being treated fairly.
He noted that it was unacceptable for a region to have a domineering spirit because of its population, adding that those opposed to a South East presidency in 2023 were ready to see the end of Nigeria.
“Gowon should have allowed the Igbos to go if they are to be treated as second class citizens. If zoning which will heal the wounds is not done, there will be no Nigeria. Nobody will remain in this country as a second class citizen.
“The North believes their population can be used to oppress other Nigerians. This is not acceptable. The era of that has gone. There are many good Northerners but the Fulani-oriented ones want to dominate everywhere,” he added.