South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has taken a swipe at the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, saying his eight years rule was bias, unjust, nepotic, uncivil and filled with religious bigotry.

In a statement, yesterday, Clark was reacting to remarks by the former President in Abuja at the public presentation on Tuesday of a book entitled “Working with Buhari: Reflections of A Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023),” by Femi Adesina, and another book entitled, Buhari, the Nigerian legacy (Volume 1-5) was launched alongside Adesina’s book.

According to the elderstatesman, “I watched the public presentation of the book, what struck me most is the attitude and statement of former President Buhari, who eulogised his achievements as President of the country during the occasion. This I must say, is contrary to the assessment of majority of Nigerians of his administration.

“To most of us as Nigerians, Muhammadu Buhari failed abysmally as President. His administration was full of insecurity, economic collapse, injustice, religious bigotry and lack of direction. The eight years of his administration plunged Nigeria and Nigerians, five decades backwards. Even his successor, the current President Bola Tinubu, noted as much in his speech at the occasion, where Buhari was eulogising himself.

“For me, this will not be the first time I will be making this observation. In an almost 12-page farewell message I wrote to Muhammadu Buhari, on the eve of his exiting as President of the country, May 28, 2023, I said as much.

“In the past eight years, Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated in most cases that he did not belong to the whole country but to a group, his tribe and religion, which is contrary to what he said in his inaugural speech that he belongs to everybody.

“For instance, he appointed 14 out of 17 security chiefs from one section of the country. So, the declaration that ‘he belongs to everybody and nobody’ was a sham. I make bold to say that the reverse has been the case. He belongs to some people, but not the entire Nigeria.”