According to a report from the Sun, Pa Edwin Clark, an elder statesman and leader of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, appealed to President Tinubu to avoid perpetuating the alleged practices of nepotism, religious favoritism, and ethnic bias that were seen during Muhammad Buhari's administration.
Clark expressed concern over Tinubu's recent ministerial appointments, which seemed to disproportionately favor the Yoruba, with 10 appointments, compared to the Igbo, who received only five. He highlighted the historically competitive yet collaborative relationship between the Igbo and Yoruba people, criticizing the post-war marginalization of the Igbo as second-class citizens.
Clark had hoped that the new president would rectify these inequalities and unite the nation, but he feels that favoring his own ethnic group in appointments does not address the underlying issues. He emphasized that he urged President Tinubu not to follow Buhari's practice of nepotism and favoritism based on religion and ethnicity. Clark criticized the decision to allocate 10 ministerial appointments to the Yoruba and only five to the Igbo, calling it unfair. He reminisced about the historical competition and cooperation between the Igbo and Yoruba, noting that both groups were like two brothers, working and playing together.
Clark lamented that, following the war, the Igbo have been treated as a minority and second-class citizens. He hoped that the new president would reverse these practices to benefit the entire nation, but instead sees Tinubu favoring his own ethnic group, which, according to Clark, does not solve the underlying problems.
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In his own words, he remarked, "I also call on President Tinubu not to follow Muhammad Buhari’s practice of nepotism and religion and ethnicity. But what we are saying and I accused him of that is that it appears he has started because there is no reason why you give 10 ministerial appointments to the Yorubas and five to the Igbo. It is unfair. Because the Nigeria to which I was born for the past 97 years, the Igbos and the Yorubas were competitors, they were like two brothers fighting among themselves, working together and playing together.
When you talk about the intellectual and social angles, the competition was between the Igbos and the Yorubas. But to see today that the Igbos are now being regarded after the war as minority, second-class citizen is a no. So I thought that when the new president comes in, he would reverse some of these things in favour of the entire Nigeria, reversing them and giving them to his own tribe people. It does not solve the problem."