According to the report from the Sun, an Elder statesman and leader of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, Pa Edwin Clark 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.
He 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.
Highlighting the historically competitive yet collaborative relationship between the Igbo and Yoruba people, he criticized the post-war marginalization of the Igbo as second-class citizens.
He stated that he had hoped that the new president would rectify these inequalities and unite the nation, but feels that favoring his own ethnic group in appointments does not address the underlying issues.
He said, "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."