Presidency says Buhari did not Snub South-East Economic Summit

President Muhammadu Buhari, South-East Economic and Security Summit

The presidency says President Muhammadu Buhari did not snub organisers of the recent South-East Economic and Security Summit held in Enugu.

In a statement, Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said in Abuja on Friday that the President did not, and he absolutely had no reason to snub anyone.

Garba said 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 December 22 as can be found on the weekly programme.

After this was done, some other stakeholders from the South-East came and advised him not to 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 was not possible, then the event could go on without him. That was what the organisers chose to do. The President did not, and he absolutely has no reason to snub anyone,” the statement said.