The Nigeria’s number one man, President Muhammadu Buhari is set to leave Abuja for Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, this week in a secret visit to avoid protest and embarrassment from youths, SaharaReporters is reporting.
It was gathered that the planned visit is deliberately kept a secret because it is believed that the President will attract protests in the troubled state.
“Buhari has a secret plan to visit Maiduguri this week but they don’t want to announce it to prevent a situation whereby protesters in Maiduguri will embarrass him,” a source in the Presidency told SaharaReporters.
Borno state which is the epicentre of insurgency war in Nigeria has been at the end of incessant deadly attacks by terrorist groups–Boko Haram and the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), and many residents have grown frustrated with the Buhari government.
The northeast state is a stronghold of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which won presidential elections in the state in 2015 and 2019.
Protesters had in February 2020 booed Buhari when he travelled to Maiduguri to “sympathise” with its residents over recent Boko Haram attacks.
A video circulated on social media showed hundreds of protesters on the road while the president’s convoy drove past.
“Buhari, we don’t like you. We don’t want you anymore,” some of the protesters chanted in Hausa.
