President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his scheduled visit to the Rivers State for the launch of a cleanup operation for oil spills in the Niger Delta.
Buhari was due to make his first visit to the Niger Delta—a major oil-producing region in Nigeria—on Thursday to inaugurate a $1 billion initiative to clean up areas affected by oil spills in Ogoniland.
Buhari abruptly withdrew from the trip on Thursday with reports not providong exact details as to the reasons for the cancellation and who was going to represent the present.
Most reports indicate that the president would be be represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, but some express doubts as the vice president is said to away to papua New Guinea where he is representing the president in another assignment.
Two reasons have been offered by unnamed sources within the administration. One possible reason according to sourcesis that the prisdent may not be well-disposed wealthwise to embark on the trip, while another reason is that the president may have bowed to security reports especially withe ht warning of Niger Delta avengers agains the presidents visits.
The Rainbows attempts to get the true standing on the development proved abortive ad none several presidential advisors, none all attempts to speak with the the presidential media aides proved abortive.
NDA has in the past few weeks mounted a gruelling campaign against oil installations in the Niger Delta , including Shell and U.S. firm Chevron, in recent months. The attacks are partly responsible for a fall in Nigeria’s oil production of 800,000 barrels per day. An anonymous man claiming to be a member of the NDA claimed that President Buhari’s life would be under threat if he visited the Niger Delta,IBTimes UK reported, in a call to U.K.-based underground radio station Radio Biafra.
The director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested by Nigerian security forces in October 2015 and currently detained and awaiting trial for treasonable felony. The NDA has stated the release of Kanu as one of its aims. Pro-Biafra activists have clashed with Nigerian police and military in parts of southern Nigeria, including areas of the Niger Delta.
Ryan Cummings, director of African risk consultancy Signal Risk, says that Buhari’s decision to pull out could be linked to security threats from both Niger Delta militants and pro-Biafra activists. “Both groups oppose the Buhari government and the concept of the Nigerian state,” says Cummings. Pro-Biafra activists are calling for an independent republic of Biafra in southeast Nigeria, while the NDA and other militants have called for greater autonomy in the Niger Delta.
Cummings points out, however, that last-minute cancellations are “not uncharacteristic” of Buhari. The Nigerian president pulled out just before a working visit to the commercial capital Lagos in May due to “scheduling difficulties.”
With online reports
