Breaking: President Buhari snubs the call of Nigerians

As the year draws to an end, Fresh reports have just come in that the President of the Nigerian Federation Muhammadu Buhari has ignored the calls of Nigerians to visit northern Nigeria based on the rising levels of insecurity and killings and has instead gone on a trip to Turkey for a Turkey-Africa summit. The President traveled with his wife, Aisha yesterday along with 7 ministers to Istanbul for the 3rd Partnership Summit.

In recent times, the Nigerian President has come under serious attack from the media and the youths due to the rising levels of insecurity in the northern region of the country with the youths campaigning with #SecureNorth and #NorthisBleeding trends on social media platforms in a bid to get the attention of the Federal Government.

Based on the reports, as of Thursday evening over 30,000 people have signed the petition on change.org for the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in northern states like Kastina, Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto and some parts of Kaduna because of the high level of crime and insecurity and since the president had refused to visit this places and the affected victims in person.

During protests held on Wednesday, the protesters demanded that the president visit the attacked and affected communities in person and not send any further delegates. They believe that the President is supposed to be responsible for his citizens himself. Some Northern groups even criticized the president for attending the book launching ceremony of fellow party member, Chieftain Bisi Akande, just almost two days after a bus load of passengers was set ablaze by bandits in Sokoto State, as they believed this was a more pressing matter.

The minister of police affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, on Monday tried to defend the actions of the president by stating that it was impossible for the President to visit every community and victim that was affected by the attacks but instead it will be more effective to send delegates, that way it would be as if the President was there himself.

"these attacks were happening on a daily basis, so it is impossible for the President to pay every single family a condolence visit but sending a delegation will make it easier and is more effective, it's as if the President was there himself."

The special senior assistant to the President on media and publicity, Garba Shehu said in a statement yesterday, that the President traveled to Turkey for a summit that's themed "Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity," which will be hosted by the President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey. according to organizers it is going to review the cooperation between Turkey and Africa since the last Summit in 2014.

Garba Shehu said that the third summit comes as a result of the visit of president Erdogan to Nigeria where several agreements were made concerning industry and energy, to expand the existing bilateral trade ties between both countries.

Meanwhile the leader of the northern alliance movement, Yahuzo Getso said that the fact that the President snubbed call of Nigerians to visit the affected regions in the North, even when a commissioner was killed in his home state shows that the President does not care about Nigerians.

The Youth leader of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Isaac John also made a statement. According to him only God is holding the nation together.

he said "I am not surprised and I do not expect anyone to be. It is the same old story. He would leave even if the entire country is on fire. Let me say at this point that it is only God that is holding the country."

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) also made his voice heard as he spoke against the arrest of the protesters in the North while carrying out there civic rights and duties. He accused the police of breaching the fundamental rights of the protesters by interfering with their demonstration and arresting some of them in the process.

"In stopping this peaceful rally, the police interfered with and violated the rights of these unarmed protesters and others who were also arrested in earlier protests in Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto State."

He also did not hesitate to remind them that on November 20th, 2014, the All Progressive Congress led by Buhari protested against insecurity under former President Goodluck Jonathan without any form of harassment in the process.

As a Nigerian, I believe that the President owes his allegiance to his people. he should have offered some kind of condolence to those affected in the North, instead of jetting out for a foreign summit. I believe that as long as the issue of insecurity is not dealt with, foreign trade will always be limited and not yield it's maximum.

It's not a matter of visiting every single affected place, but showing that you are concerned about the recent happenings and making some tangible efforts to stop it, recent protests in Nigeria have always been met with harsh measures by the Nigerian government.

These are my thoughts on the recent happenings in Nigeria, I'd like to know what you think. Do share your thoughts in the comment section and leave a like, also subscribe for more of this kind of contents.

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