Obasanjo, Clark row escalates over resource control

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has insisted the Niger Delta and is oil constitutionally belong to Nigeria and not the region.

Obasanjo said it while responding to the accusation Niger Delta elder Edwin Clark levelled against him—that Obasanjo hates the oil-bearing region.

In a six-page letter, Obasanjo alleged that Clark wrongfully accused him.

“All those who purchase crude oil from Nigeria enter into a contractual relationship with Nigeria, not with the Niger Delta. The territory of Nigeria is indivisible inclusive of the resources found therein.

“No territory in Nigeria including the minerals found therein belongs to the area of location and this remains so until the federation is dissolved.

“This is the position of the Nigerian Constitution and international law. If there is a threat of violence to any part of Nigeria today including the Niger Delta it is the Nigerian military backed by any other machinery that can be procured or established at the Federal level that will respond to any such threat.

“In principle and practice, the position I have taken on the location of mineral resources in any part of Nigeria is the legal and constitutional position,” he said.