Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said that his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, dared scaremongers who said his recent visit to Owerri, the Imo State capital, could cause a bloodbath.
According to the presidential aide, many people prayed for Buhari before the visit to Owerri on September 9, 2021, thinking “anything could happen”.
Adesina in a piece posted on his Facebook page on Thursday night said Buhari is not a man to be scared from visiting any part of the country.
The piece titled, ‘This Buhari Has No Boundaries’, read, “Many were the prayers and goodwill messages that sped our feet to Owerri, capital of Imo State, the Eastern Heartland, on September 9, 2021.
“Why were the people so effusive in prayers? We were considered as going into unsafe territory, where anything could happen, as President Muhammadu Buhari and his team visited Owerri on a one-day working visit.”
Adesina also said he got messages from some Nigerians asking him to prevail on the President to cancel the Imo trip.
Of recent, Imo has been infamous for serial attacks by gunmen who destroy military formations, raze police stations and offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, killing scores of security operatives and civilians in the process.
Continuing, the presidential aide said, “To make matters worse, a shadowy group had claimed that the President was not welcome in any part of the South-east. I got messages filled with trepidation from home and abroad. Please prevail on the President to cancel the trip. He should apologize to Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, and abort the visit. There could be a bloodbath.
“I only laughed it all off. Who would tell a duly and popularly elected President where to go, and where not to go, in his own country? At the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, he had campaigned in Borno State in 2015 and 2019, respectively. A man, who repeatedly tells us that for the 30 months the Nigerian Civil War lasted, he was right there at the front, not even taking one day off. Is that then the person you would scare from visiting any part of the country?
“And again, this was a serial Igbo Chief. The Ogbuagu 1 (The Lion Killer) of Aba. The Ochioha 1 (Leader of All) of Igboland, given to him in Ebonyi State in 2017. Also The Enyioma 1 (The Good Friend) of Ebonyi, and Ikeogu 1 (The Great Warrior) of Ndigbo, among others. Is this then the kind of person you frighten from visiting anywhere, particularly Igboland? It doesn’t happen!”
Adesina said that despite the warning by some people kicking against the visit, his principal was well received by leaders of the South-East zone including governors, cultural leaders including the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof George Obiozor.
“The visit of the President was a roaring success, and like the Ohanaeze President said, it drove away ‘the cloudiness of relationship with Ndigbo.’
The Ogbuagu, indeed, slew the lion of insularity, wrong profiling, and scaremongering. Bring on the other lions!” he concluded.
