I won’t ignore any part of Nigeria, says Buhari

*Cross River community backs Buhari for 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja promised that no part of Nigeria will be ignored under his watch.

He gave the assurance when he received a delegation of Ugep Kingdom, Cross River State, led by His Royal Highness, Obol Ofem Ubana, Obol Lopon of Ugep, a retired Army officer.

The President, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, was responding to a request by the royal father for the Federal Government to intervene and resolve inter-ethnic conflicts, affecting several communities namely Nko, Nyima, Oyadama, Edibe, Usumtong, Adadama and Ekureku.

Buhari told the delegation: ‘‘I assure you that under my watch, no part of Nigeria will be ignored.

”I am very pleased that you [the traditional ruler] have shared some professional background as a former military officer.

”My experience of being in the military afforded me the opportunity to work with all Nigerians and this is a lifetime experience.” he said

Speaking earlier, the traditional ruler thanked the President for appointing Yakuur sons into exalted positions in government, including Chief of Naval Staff, Minister of Niger Delta and Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution.

He pledged the support of his community to the president’s ”quest to rescue Nigeria.”

On restiveness in the region, the Obol Lopon said: ‘‘We are increasingly losing our youths to inter-tribal wars which if nothing is done will leave our communities without youths in the near future.

”As Obolo Lopon of Ugep, I am ready to partner with relevant government agencies saddled with the responsibility and management of communal conflict resolutions.”

Speaking with State House correspondents, His Royal Majesty, Obol Ofem said “We came here to thank Mr. President for finding our children worthy to work in his government. In this government we have three of our illustrious sons, the Chief of Naval Staff is from my local government, the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs is from my local government and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Prosecution is from my local government.

“So we have come to thank Mr. President for finding them worthy to work with him. We are also asking him to help us tame the menace of communal crisis in our area, that is one of our major problems.

“We have also asked him to upgrade the only government institution in our local government, the Institute of Management Technology to Federal University of Technology. We asked that those who were displaced as a result of this communal crisis are resettled. Like the Ebom Ebijiakara community, the have been living as refugees in the past eleven years, so the problem is telling on our community and we are appealing to the federal government to resettle them.

“We have also asked that the federal government remembers one of our illustrious sons who was a Minister for External Affairs for nine years, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, SAN, he has never been remembered, so we are asking that he should be honoured with national honour. We are also asking that a street should be known after him in Abuja. He said he will look into it.

“We have come to tell him that we are behind him and also congratulate him for emerging the candidate of the party. Our community is strongly behind him and will support him during the election.” he said