President Muhammadu
Buhari has explained his absence from the south-east economic and security
summit in Enugu.
Speaking through Garba Shehu, his spokesman, Buhari said he
aborted the trip because he did not want to disrupt Christmas celebrations in
the region.
Buhari was expected to declare open the summit, which held in
Enugu, on Thursday, but his absence fuelled speculations that he was
deliberately snubbing Ndigbo.
But Shehu said Buhari had asked for a postponement of the event,
and the organisers insisted it would go on, forcing him to cancel his visit.
Shehu said: “Contrary to media reports alleging that President
Muhammadu Buhari snubbed the recent South-East Economic and Security
Summit in Enugu, below is the accurate account:
“The president was presented with a request to attend the Economic
and Security Summit by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya
Onu.
“The president happily accepted. The visit to Enugu was scheduled
for Thursday 22nd as can be found on the weekly programme. After this was done,
some other stakeholders from the southeast came and advised him to not go in
view of the closeness of the date to Christmas; that given the sensitivity of
the period to the people, a presidential visit may come with overexertion and
possibly, be disruptive of Christmas.
“In view of this, President Buhari requested that the event be
pushed forward to January, 2017. Given his nature, he did not insist. He said
if the change of date is not possible, then the event can go on without him.
That is what the organizers chose to do.
“The president did not, and he absolutely has no reason to snub
anyone one.”
-The Cable
No comments:
Post a Comment