Pascal Arogorn Ibe
*Meeting with Southeast leaders ‘extremely fruitful’, says minister
Southeast governors and leaders rose from a meeting in Enugu on Saturday with a Presidential Delegation to Southeast pledging an indivisible and united Nigeria “built on love, fairness, equity and justice”
They in turn requested President Muhammad Buhari “the father of our nation, to look into the demands of the various groups of our people, review same with a view to solving them”.
In a communiqué read at the end of the meeting by Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, who is the Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, the leaders said “Southeast people believe in one Nigeria and this is the reason we are in every part of this country erecting infrastructures, living peacefully with our host communities and doing our businesses”.
The Presidential Delegation which was led by the Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, included the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, all the ministers from Southeast and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.
The Southeast leaders further requested a joint operation into “our forest to flush out criminals and killer herdsmen with Ak47, while pledging our commitment to continuous coexistence with the herdsmen who have been living peacefully with us for years”.
They thanked the President for the “speed and the restraint with which he handled the demand of peaceful EndSars protesters, especially his commitment to drive police reform and mainstream youth empowerment and also for his courage to deal with hoodlums, criminals and those who hijacked the initial protests to hide under the peaceful protest and kill, maim innocent citizens, security agents and public and private properties.”
The communiqué further said: “Southeast governors have set up panels of enquiry to deal with all infractions of human rights of our people and security agencies, compensation funds for all civil servants and security men who lost their lives during the protests.
“We pledge to continue to protect all the various groups living in the Southeast. We enjoin them to go about their businesses peacefully.
“We thank Mr. President, governors and traditional rulers in other parts of Nigeria for their commitment to protect our people, especially during and after the protests. We must continue to live in peace.
“We appreciate Mr. President’s delegation for carefully listening to, engaging with stakeholders and undertaking to report faithfully to Mr. President for his consideration and necessary action”.
Meeting with Southeast leaders ‘extremely fruitful’, says minister
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed has described as “extremely fruitful” the meeting which a presidential team had with leaders and stakeholders of the Southeast.
“The meeting of the presidential delegation with Southeast leaders was very useful,” Mohammed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Enugu.
The delegation, led by Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, met for more than eight hours in Enugu with selected Southeast leaders.
Mohammed said it was quite instructive that all the groups which took part in the meeting believed in the unity and oneness of the country, adding that they clearly spelt out this in their presentations.
“We listened clearly and carefully to all the positions and demands and we are going back to report directly to President Buhari,” the minister told NAN.
He stressed that the Federal Government had been spreading development and infrastructure to all parts of the country, simultaneously and equitably.
“We want the Southeast people to be confident that the Federal Government is spreading development and infrastructure to all parts of the country equitably and will never marginalise any zone in the ongoing development and infrastructure agenda.
“This is what I want to assure Nigerians living in the SoutheEast,” Mohammed said.
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