The Chairman Board of Trustees of the Centre for Human
Rights and Anti-Corruption (CHURAC), Cleric E. Alaowei, Esq, today said former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s reply to Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark’s letter is
unnecessary.
Alaowei made the assertion in a statement signed and made
available.
He said the former president relied on the provisions of the
1999 Military Decree, otherwise known as the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
According to Alaowei, “To us in the Niger Delta, that
Military Decree did not reflect the will of the people. A constitution is
supposed to be the true reflection of the people’s will but that’s not the case
with the 1999 Constitution.
“That is the reason why Nigerians are agitating for the
constitutional review. Of course, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo should have known
better, the outcome of the National Political Reforms Conference (NPC) in 2005
which he convened.
“If the provisions of the 1999 constitution were acceptable
to the Niger Delta people, the latter wouldn’t had boycotted the Conference
when the demand for 25% derivation was rejected by the conferees.
“OBJ ought to have informed the world that his NPC and the
2014 National Dialogue approved 18% derivation for the producing States. If the
ownership of the natural resources belong to the central government as
erroneously provided in that military Decree, the Constitutional conferences
from 2005 to date would not have resolved to increase the derivation in the
Constitution in order to address the yearnings of the Niger Delta people.
“There’s a national consensus that the natural resources
belong to the people whose lands produce them but draconian military Decrees
were promulgated by competing interests to deny the people of their rights.
“That is the reason why they’re making an upward review of
the provisions of the constitution in order to appease the people whose rights
have been constitutionally stolen from them.
“OBJ also relied on international treaties to support his
constitutional claim of ownership of natural resources. We stand to be
corrected. The provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights
which was domesticated in Nigeria did not vest ownership of natural resources
in the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“That treaty clearly provides that ownership of natural
resources belong to the people where they’re found. Baba Obasanjo should tell
us the particular treaty that gives ownership of natural resources to the
Federal Government of Nigeria.
“We believe, the former President is only trying to be
economical with the truth. We agree with Chief E. K. Clark that the natural
resources belong to the people and not the central government. That’s the
practice in the world over.
“Whether or not our constitution vests ownership in the
Federal Government as against the interest of the oil-bearing host communities,
we will continue to agitate for our rights. Niger Delta people and indeed, a
good number of Nigerians are in agreement with the Elder Statesman, Chief Edwin
Kiagbodo Clark.”
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