Why Buhari missed the economic summit in Enugu

- There were reports that President Muhammadu Buhari missed the summit in Enugu due to Bifara protests

- This was dismissed in a report that indicated that his visit to the region was postponed

- His visit has been rescheduled to 2017 when some projects in the region would have been completede

President Muhammadu Buhari was conspicuously absent at the South East security and economic summit which took place in Enugu on Thursday, December 22 although it was not due to the Biafra protest as widely insinuated.

According to Sahara Reporters, a battle for supremacy among politicians from the region caused the president to cancel the planned visit.

Why Buhari missed the economic summit in Enugu

It was reported that Chris Ngige who is the minister of labor and productivity led a faction that consisted of Ogbonnaya Onu and supported by National Assembly members of the region.

They were in contention with another group led by Bart Nnaji, an ex-minister of power, and Pascal Dozie.

A source in the president’s camp said: “Though the Ngige group won at the end of the day in the sense that Buhari did not attend the summit.

“The president’s heart is with the Nnaji/Dozie group.”

It was reported that the president had assured former vice president Alex Ekwueme and Emeka Anyaoku of his participation but was prevailed upon by Ngige to decline attendance at the last minute.

“In fact, it was President Buhari who personally chose December 22 as the date for the summit.”

Some Igbo members of Buhari’s cabinet reported advised him to delay his visit to the region till the approval of the Second Niger Bridge considerable work has been done on the Onitsha-Enugu Highway.

On Tuesday, December 20, the president sent a message to Ngige that he will not be attending the summit forcing other top politicians and ministers to also cancel their plan to attend.

Despite the president’s absence, the summit was attended by former president Olusegun Obasanjo who said that he initiated the effort to hold the summit so that the Southeast could regain its position as Nigeria’s center of excellence in entrepreneurship, commerce, technology and communal development and solidarity.

Onyi Frank Nwagbara who is the secretary of the group noted that security was necessary for economic progress.

He said: “The summit had to stress the importance of security in the region because rapid economic progress cannot take place in a crisis environment.

“Apart from killings perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen, the Southeast has been the theatre of kidnappings for ransom which compelled a number of industrialists to exit cities like Owerri, Aba and Onitsha in recent years. Soldiers still patrol the streets of these cities”.