Date: 2012-06-01

The President of Orisun Igbomina, a socio-political group at the Kwara South Senatorial district, Chief Gbenga Awoyale has faulted Chief Edwin Clarke that the Northern states did not contribute anything to the development of Nigeria before the discovery of crude oil.

Awoyale who faulted the Ijaw leader's position in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, yesterday, also has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to accept dialogue with the Boko Haram group which had claimed responsibility for series of bomb attacks in some parts of the Northern states as means to find lasting peace in the country.

"It is an unfortunate statement because perhaps he has lost memory of Nigerian history that prior to the discovery of oil, there had been the groundnut pyramids in the North, cocoa in the South-west, and rubber plantations in the South-east. I don't want to join issue with an elderly person but he needs to be cautioned as his statements are too corrosive that they can set the nation ablaze.

"As such, the south should pick another highly respected leader for the Niger Delta that will not endanger the fragile unity of the country. Chief Clark is the only chief adviser to the President and he has been advising him wrongly. He should stop misleading the PDP into taking wrong decisions. The poverty in the land needs to be addressed".