Protesters storm Nigeria House in London, Buhari makes U- turn on medical checkup

President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has shelved his medical trip to the United Kingdom as earlier scheduled for Friday.

His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed this in a statement titled, ‘President Buhari postpones London trip.’

The statement read, “The medical follow-up visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United Kingdom earlier scheduled for today, Friday, June 25, 2021, has been postponed.”

“A new date will be announced in due course,” the statement added.

Adesina had initially in a statement on Thursday announced that Buhari would on Friday proceed to London for “a scheduled medical follow-up.”

Meanwhile, while it was unclear why Buhari’s trip to the UK was postponed, it came on the same day a peaceful demonstration was held by some Nigerians in the UK against the alleged bad treatment and killing of Igbo in Nigeria, according to a British Broadcasting Corporation report.

A video shared by BBC Pidgin on Facebook showed scores of protesters at the Nigeria House in London, UK, chanting and singing various protest songs.

The protesters trekked from Trafalgar Square to the House of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to protest insecurity in the South-East.

The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as ‘Nigerian President threatened another genocide. When Twitter objected, it was banned in Nigeria’, and ‘Britain and America can force Buhari to stop the killing of Biafrans in Nigeria.’

Other inscriptions read, ‘Igbo Lives Matter,’ ‘Nigerian Government, Stop the Killing of People in the South-East,’ among others.

One of the protesters told BBC Pidgin that they were demanding that the alleged killing of people in the South-East should stop.

The protester said, “We are protesting against the killing of people in Southeastern Nigeria. The police are killing people; the military are killing people; even the so-called unknown gunmen are killing people. Police stations, prisons, and other government facilities are getting attacked and razed.

“Initially, the Inspector General of Police (Usman Baba) said the attacks were done by people that looked like members of the Indigenous People of Biafra. He said the police would investigate. For two weeks now, he has not said anything. The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, also said the same thing the IGP said.

“We want them to bring the footage. Let them play it. Let’s see the people they are referring to as ‘Aningo.’ They are killing people. They say ‘search and flush.’ Is life now water that you can flush?”

Another protester said, “We have come out because they are killing our youths. They are destroying our farms. We want this to stop and stop now. Igbo lives matter. Nigeria belongs to all of us. We want peace in Nigeria.

We want the Igbo to be free in Nigeria. We want all the policemen and soldiers torturing our people in the South-East to withdraw.

“We are calling for a national conference to discuss the restructuring of Nigeria. If it is not possible, let us go in peace. We are calling on the European Union, the United Nations, African Union and the rest. They need to intervene in Nigeria. All is not well with Nigeria.”