From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
The Presidency has denied insinuations making the rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari snubbed the recent South-East Economic and Security Summit in Enugu.
According to the Presidency, although the President had accepted to attend the summit held last Thursday in Enugu, some stakeholders from the South East advised him not to attend in view of the closeness of the date to Christmas; that given the sensitivity of the period to the people, it may disrupt the festive mood.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement said, the President had requested for the date to be moved to January to enable him attend but that he had also advised that if it was going to be too much trouble, the summit should hold without him.
The statement reads, “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 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 organizers chose to do.
“The President did not, and he absolutely has no reason to snub anyone one”.