President Muhammadu Buhari has abandoned his planned medical follow-up visit to the United Kingdom earlier scheduled for today, Friday, due to fear of embarrassment by Nigerians living in the UK who have agreed to resume protests over killings in Southeast.
According to a short statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, a new date will be announced in due course.
But sources said that the postponement may not be unconnected with protests scheduled to resume today by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Igbo Town Unions and other Igbo groups in the UK.
The groups in a widely shared video had lamented the atrocities committed by security agencies in Igbo land following activities of hoodlums in the region.
During his last visit in April, Buhari was held up at the Nigerian House in London by angry Nigerians protesting the widening poverty and insecurity in the country.
At least 500 people, mainly civilians have been killed by security agencies since hoodlums began attacking security formations in the South East according to Intersociety, a civil liberty organisation based in Onitsha, the economic hub of Anambra State.
The group also said that more than 2500 people have been abducted by security agencies since the onslaught on the hoodlums began late in April.
The federal government has on occasions blamed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, for the violence, an accusation the group denied.
