President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a statement explaining why he did not attend the South-East security summit which held in Enugu state.
Several speakers at the event expressed surprise that the President did not attend the event that was organised to discuss on how to improve security in the region.
According to Punch, Buhari also denied reports in the media that he snubbed the event, adding that stakeholders in the South-East region asked him not to attend.
The President made this known in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity.
The statement reads: “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 South East 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 organisers chose to do.
“The President did not, and he absolutely has no reason to snub anyone one.”
The South-East security summit was held at the Enugu State Government House on Thursday, December 22, 2016.