Senators from the South East on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu
Buhari over the tension generated in the region as a result of the
activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
The Senators, who were led by the Deputy Senate President, Senator
Ike Ekweremadu said the South East zone was shortchanged by the current
Federal Government.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ekweremadu said they had fruitful discussion
with the president over pressing issues affecting the South East.
The Deputy Senate President stressed that the South East is of the
option that dialogue remains the best bet in addressing some of the
issues affecting the region.
According to Ekweremadu, “For us from the South East, we believe that dialogue is better than any other form of engagement.
“So, we decided to visit the President and present to him some of the
concerns of the South East including the issues of roads, general
infrastructure; the rail, airports and others.
“We also discussed the issue of security with him and of course the
issue of IPOB. We had a good conversation and he promised to look into
the issues.”
Also addressing newsmen, the Chairman of the South East Senate
Caucus, Eyinnaya Abaribe, maintained that the South East remained the
most shortchanged region in the country.
Abaribe said, “This is the southeast caucus in the Senate and we came
to see the president because of the issues we have in the southeast.
“We had a fruitful discussion with the President. He has promised us that he is going to look into the problems of southeast.
“We know that there are problems everywhere but we also believe that
the South East is the zone that is far much shortchanged at this time
than other zones.
“We also talked about the issue of appointments from the South East,
especially with respect to the National Security Council. The President
also told us that governors of the South East have also engaged him in
the same problems we engaged him in.
“We are reassured with the response we got from the President and we
look forward to further interaction with him in this manner.”