Chief Edwin Clark, former minister of information in the administration of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has drawn the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the fact that his administration has discriminated against the south-south geo-political zone in terms of appointments.

In an open letter to the president tagged ‘Let us call a spade a spade’, the 93-year-old elder statesman said “it seems the only qualifications for appointment in the federal civil service or public service, under your administration, are religion or ethnicity.”

He said the south-south zone had continued to witness situations “whereby people due confirmation for their positions, are being removed, and replaced with people from particular parts of the country.”

He recalled the recent case of Akwa State-born Mrs. Mary Uduk who acted as the director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over two years, “but Mr. President did not deem it fit to confirm her as substantive director general.”

Instead, he said “Mr. President thought otherwise and replaced her with Mr. Lamido Yuguda, a retired staff of Central Bank of Nigeria, somebody from the North, who was a commissioner working under her in the commission.”

Clark also cited the case of Mrs. Azuka Azinge who served the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for 10 years and was later appointed acting registrar general of the commission for two years.

He said the Delta State-born indigene was ridiculed and booted out of office for a northerner Mr. Garba Abubakar, from Bauchi State, who was a principal manager and former special adviser to the former registrar general to take over as chief helmsman of the CAC.

Clark did not forget to mention the former Rivers State-born director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Dakuku Peterside who was appointed as chief of the agency in 2016 but was not reappointed when his term expired in 2020.

“Unknown to, and without the input of the minister of transportation, under whose charge the agency operates, Mr. President appointed a northerner, Bashir Jamoh, from Kaduna State, who was an executive director at the agency, to replace Dr. Dakuku Peterside. Mr. Bashir Jamoh, is reportedly, a father-in-law to one of your aides,” said Clark.

However, he recalled that recently the president renewed the appointment of the executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, “which was done expressly, without any hullabaloo, apparently, because he is from the northern part of the country.”

The elder statesman also deplored the shoddy manner in which the cases involving the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen and the former head of the civil service of the federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita (both south-southerners) were handled.

Turning his attention to happenings in the petroleum industry Clark said appointments to certain posts are skewed towards the south-south zone which lays the golden egg.

‘So it seems to me, there are positions in NNPC, reserved for people from the south-south, and there are some other positions reserved for people from the northern zone. Why the discrimination, and seeming snobbery?

“While our resources are being managed, and subjugated, mainly by people from other parts of the country, the people of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta, who bear the brunt of degradation, arising from the oil and gas exploratory activities…are rendered spectators of the oil business,” he said.