Clark flays Buhari for excluding N/Delta from projects tied to $308m Abacha loot

TRACKING_____ELDER statesman and former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for excluding the Niger Delta from projects to be executed through the $308 million loot recovered from the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

In a statement from London, the United Kingdom, late Thursday, the octogenarian called on President Buhari to urgently include the region as one of the beneficiaries of the loot

Clark contented that a larger chunk, if not all, of the recovered looted money were funds derived from oil exploration in the Niger Delta.

The Ijaw leader, therefore, wondered why the infrastructural projects for execution from the loot should not include the region which, he said, was wallowing in infrastructural deficit and squalor.

He said: “While I congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on the recovery of another Abacha loot to the tune of $308 million, I, however, observed that, again, the Niger Delta region is left out in the infrastructural development in the country, both in the 2020 budget of the Federal Government and in the distribution of the recovered Abacha loot for infrastructural development.

“I noticed that the only road projects to benefit from the recent Abacha loot are the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Western Region), the Abuja-Kano Road (Northern Region) and the 2nd Niger Bridge (Eastern Region) and which is merely meant for the eastern part of the country, even though it starts from Asaba in Delta State.

“This, indeed, is a demonstration of the Federal Government’s repeated and deliberate neglect of the Niger Delta, even though the Abacha loot came substantially from the region.

“It must be admitted that the revenue that accrued to the Federal Government, which was deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria, from where Abacha looted them, is the product of oil and gas revenue derived from the oil and gas fields/industries in the Niger Delta region.

“But the Federal Government, has again, deliberately abandoned the East-West Road which is the most important economic road in Nigeria, which was started over 10 years ago, even when the collapsed part of the road has been left to the state governments of the region to repair, particularly the recent total collapse of the part from Benin in Edo State to Warri in Delta State.”

The statement insisted that the continued “deliberate” neglect and injustice against the people of the Niger Delta should stop forthwith.

Clark, who is the convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), called on the Federal Government to include the completion of the East-West Road as one of the projects to be embarked upon with the Abacha loot.

“The question one asks oneself is, is the Niger Delta not part of Nigeria? It is, indeed, most offensive and insulting to the people of the region when in response to our complaints and agitations, some armchair politicians who were never voted for by the people of Nigeria would shamelessly reply that the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) were generously given to us and yet we complain.

“This marginalisation, oppression, injustice and neglect of the Niger Delta region will not be allowed to continue forever. The people of the region demand that the Federal Government should include the completion of the East-West Road as one of the major infrastructural projects to be developed using the Abacha loot.

“Finally, I once again, congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on the most recent recovery of the Abacha loot, and to also add that most Nigerians were not satisfied with similar Abacha loot recovered from Geneva as to how it was expended.

“It is, therefore, very gratifying that this particular loot is being tied to road infrastructural development in the Country. The Niger Delta region should not be left out, please,” Chief Clark said.